Dominant Debut For Volleyball, Restrepo

NORMAN, Okla - First year volleyball head coach Santiago Restrepo admitted that he probably couldn't have scripted his first match with Oklahoma any better. The numbers back up his point. Oklahoma never trailed as it swept Providence College in commanding fashion (30-19, 30-19, 30-17) in its season opener at the Holiday Inn/University of Texas-Pan American Invitational in Edinburg, Texas on Friday afternoon.

“Of course I am excited, “ remarked Restrepo. “It is a relief to win your first match with a new program. Its a great feeling to have that one under our belts.”

The star of the match for Oklahoma was junior middle blocker Jennifer Adams, who was nearly perfect with a career-high 15 kills and no errors on 23 total attempts. She broke the OU rally-scoring three game record for hitting percentage with .652 mark.

Box Score

Adams led an OU squad that came out of the gates hitting on all cylinders offensively. As a team the Sooners hit .343, which is the second best three game percentage since the inception of the rally-scoring system prior to the 2001 season.

Three Sooners tied for second-best honors with seven kills. The trio of senior Keri Coats, junior-transfer Gabriela Tonon and sophomore Laura Tomes also hit at remarkable rates. Coats led with a .462 mark, while Tomes hit .357 and Tonon was a .333 hitter in her OU debut.

“We were trying to work our middle blockers in this match,” said Restrepo. “It's an area we need to work on and it proved effective.”

Quarterbacking the OU offense were sophomore Rachel Jackson and freshman Julie Chester. The duo showed consistency with Jackson assisting on 20 kills and Chester setting up 19.

On the defensive end sophomore Joanna Schmitt led the charge. Schmitt compiled a team-high 13 digs and was followed in the category by senior defensive specialist Stephanie Tengram with nine. Chester, Adams, Sheena Werling and Anna Monsen also contributed six digs. The team was two off an OU record with 64 total digs.

At the net Adams led the Sooners with six block assists while Schmitt tied a career-high with four helpers.

“I thought we came out a bit tentative in the first game,” said Restrepo. “That's to be expected but I also want to see that improve this evening. I also would like to see us cut down our service errors and improve our passing.”

Freshman Anna Stadel had three kills and no errors on six attempts in her collegiate debut.

Restrepo, who is the fourth head coach in OU volleyball history, is the second to win his debut. Kalani Mahi was successful in his first attempt in 2000, while previous head coaches Miles Pabst and Amy Dahl were not.

OU returns to the tourney action at 5 p.m when it faces Louisiana Monroe. The Sooners have defeated Louisiana-Monroe the last two seasons.

OU is 1-0 on the young season while Providence is 0-1.