No. 15 Kansas State Comes To Town

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Big 12 and Pac 10 have six teams ranked in the AVCA Coaches Top-25 Poll. That is unwelcome news for the Oklahoma volleyball team (8-3, 0-3 Big 12), which faces all six of the conferences' ranked teams over the next seven matches. The daunting stretch begins with No. 15 Kansas State (8-4, 2-1) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside the Howard McCasland Field House. Then OU heads to Austin for the first installation of the Red River Rivalry with No. 18 Texas (11-0, 5-0) on Saturday evening.

The Sooners lead the all-time series with Kansas State 40-19-1 but the success hasn't come in recent years. OU has lost 10 straight and hasn't defeated KSU since 1998.

The Wildcats won their first Big 12 Championship last season and return veterans Gabby Guerre, Vali Hejjas and Lisa Martin. Hejjas is averaged 3.6 kills per game to lead the team. Guerre quarterbacks the offense and is averaging 11.27 assists and 1.66 kills per game. Martin is the most deadly attacker. She is fifth in the Big 12 with a .381 hitting percentage while putting away 2.58 kills per.

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K-State is off to an 8-4 start, which includes a 2-1 conference mark. The Wildcats have played one of the nation's toughest nonconference schedules this season. KSU has lost to Cal, Florida and Minnesota, all of which were ranked in the top-10 at the time of the meeting.

While OU's recent history with KSU has been ugly, its all-time series with Texas is downright awful. The Sooners have lost all 24 meetings with the Longhorns, who may be the hottest team in the Big 12.

Texas is off to a 11-0 start and is one of six undefeated teams remaing in the Top-25. The Longhorns have been downright dominate this season. They have only lost two games all season, which came in a five game win against No. 25 Colorado.

Statistically the Longhorns lead the Big 12 in hitting percentage (.347) and aces ( 1.94 per game), while ranking second in opponent hitting percentage (.122) and fourth in assists (14.94) and kills (16.43).

Individually Mira Topic leads the conference with 5.23 kills per game. Topic is also sixth in hitting percentage at .375, which is three spots behind No. 2 attacker Bethany Howden, who is hitting .407 and putting-away 4.27 kills per game.

Admission to the Wednesday night match is $5 for adults and $3 for children. The first 250 fans in attendance will receive free OU mouse pads.

VETERAN LEADERSHIP
The one bright stot for OU during its recent slide has been the steady improvement of senior Keri Coats and junior-transfer Gabriela Tonon.

Coats is ninth in the Big 12 and leads the team with a .363 hitting percentage. It marks the first time in the last five seasons that OU has had a player in the top-10 in hitting percentage after two weeks of Big 12 play. She has collected 10 or more kils in eight of the last nine matches. She is also putting up a solid block that is stuffing 1.14 balls per game. Excluding service aces - since she doesn't serve this season - her numbers are up across the board from 2003.

Tonon, who transferred from Hutchinson Community College, was the last recruit to sign in 2003 but she has had the biggest impact. Tonon has topped double-digits in kills in seven consecutive outings, during which time she has averaged 3.5 per game. A comparison of her first four matches (UTPA Invitational) to the last seven outings, shows that Tonon has double her production in kills (1.57 to 3.5) and digs (0.86 to 1.61). She has also bumped her hitting percentage up 60 points during that stretch.

The veteran duo is going to be relied upon heavily if the Sooners are going to make a run in the Big 12 conference. If the others follow their lead on the court, the win column will certainly benefit.

CAREER MARKS
A look at where current Sooners rank on the career lists since for the rally-scoring system, which was implemented in 2001:

CAREER KILLS
1. Christina Maynes	679	2000-03
2. Joanna Schmitt	667	2003- present
3. Candice Woods	437	2001-02
4. Sheena Werling	394	2002-present
5. Logan Pierce	342	2001
6. Keri Coats	321	2003-present
7. Megan O'Connell	289	2002
8. Jennifer Adams	286	2002-present

ASSISTS
1. Jessica Barney	1,909	2001-02
2. Rachel Jackson	1,388	2003-present
3. Kelly McCarter	381	2003

ACES
1. Jessica Barney	73	2001-02
2. Joanna Schmitt	51	2003-present
3. Christina Maynes	50	2000-03
4. Keri Coats	34	2003-present

DIGS
1. Christina Maynes	621	2000-03
2. Denise Griffin	461	2001-02
3. Jessica Barney	443	2001-02
4. Joanna Schmitt	434	2003-present
5. Yvette Villanueva	386	2002-03
6. Lindsay Hoyt	328	2001-02
7. Rachel Jackson	307	2003-present

BLOCK ASSISTS
1. Jennifer Adams	180	2002-present
2. Candice Woods	146	2001-02
3. Keri Coats	126	2003-present
4. Laura Tomes	116	2003-present
5. Jennifer Mosso	79	2002-present

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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