Volleyball Opens Home Season Tuesday

NORMAN, Okla. -- After taking care of business in the UTPA Invitational last weekend the Oklahoma volleyball team looks to continue its success in its home opener against Oral Roberts on Tuesday night at 7.

First-year head coach Santiago Restrepo and the 2004 squad will make their Howard McCasland Field House debut with a perfect 4-0 record, while the Golden Eagles enter with a 2-2 mark. Admission is $5 for adults while children get in for $3. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive free OU volleyball schedule magnets.

The regional showdown could be an accurate gauge of the Sooners fate when the Big 12 season rolls around. Oral Roberts was swept at Kansas State last Wednesday and swept at home by Kansas in their own tournament last Saturday.

If the Sooners can continue to run an efficient offense it will bode well against the Golden Eagles, who hit just .025 against Kansas and .143 against Kansas State. The Sooners low offensive percentage this season is .234 in the UTPA Invitational Championship game against the host Broncos.

Match Notes (PDF) | Season Stats

ORU outside hitter Ori Zuzic will lead the Golden Eagles attack. Zuzic has led the squad in kills in every match this season and collected 17 kills against Kansas State in the season opener. Zuzic led the Golden Eagles with 16 kills in a loss to OU last season.

Last season OU traveled to Tulsa and knocked off the host Eagles for just the fourth time in the last 95 matches at the Cooper Aerobics Center. Joanna Schmitt (23), Laura Tomes (10) and Sheena Werling (14) all reached double-digits in kills, while Rachel Jackson paced the offense with 29 assists. The Sooners toppled the Golden Eagles in four sets.

ORU has won four of the last five meetings and leads the all-time series 26-18. The rivals have split 16 all-time meetings in Norman.

Live Stats | O Zone Video

OU is one win shy of tying the school record for consecutive wins to start a season. The 5-0 mark is held by the 2000 team, which only won two matches after that point and finished with a 7-21 record.

OU will wrap its tourney schedule this weekend with matches against BYU, Memphis and Utah Valley State in the BYU Mizuno Classic this weekend (Sept. 10-11).

REMARKABLE START
Notes on Oklahoma's remarkable start to 2004....

* The 2004 squad became just the third in OU volleyball history to start 4-0. The best start ever was by the 2000 squad, which began 5-0. The 1988 team also began 4-0.

* OU hit above .300 in its first three matches of the season, making them the first team in school history to begin with such a streak.

* They also became the first team since 1997 to top .300 in three straight matches. The 1997 squad accomplished the feat from Sept. 12-13. Ironically the final match of the streak was against UTPA, who OU could not extend the streak against this season. The previous two opponents in 1997 were Montana State and Texas-San Antonio.

* The 1997 and 2004 streaks were separated by 210 matches.

* From 2000-2003 OU had only hit above .300 five times. During that four year span, OU hit above .200 on 39 occasions (39 %) with 15 (18%) of those outings coming during Big 12 play. The Sooners have topped the .200 plateau in all four matches this season.

CHANGING SYSTEMS
With Oklahoma trailing for the first time during the UTPA Invitational, head coach Santiago Restrepo decided to scrap the 6-2 system (two setters) the team had run most of training camp. From the beginning of camp he wanted to team Julie Chester and Rachel Jackson at setter, but he noticed it hurt the team's chemistry early in the tournament. With OU down 2-0 to UTPA, he switched to a 5-1 system with Jackson running the show. It worked as OU roared back to win the five-set match and claim the tourney championship. Restrepo was happy with the results but admitted afterward that they still needed practice in the system. He plans to stay with the 5-1 offense for the immediate future.

COMPARING STARTS
OU went 8-4 during its nonconference schedule in 2003. It was the best nonconference record for OU since a 9-3 mark in 1996. While OU only plays nine nonconference matches this season, it is off to a great start in the win column and on the stat page. Below is comparison of this season's nonconference stats compared to last years numbers.

	2003	2004
Record	8.4	4-0
Kills Per Game	13.52	15.93
Hitting Percentage	.203	.288
Assists Per Game	12.02	14.21
Aces Per Game	1.74	2.36
Digs Per Game	14.46	14.93
Blocks Per Game	2.87	2.75
Point Differential	+73	+78

-----------------------------	------------	------

Opponent Averages	2003	2004
Kills Per Game	13.7	10.21
Hitting Percentage	.144	.183
Assists Per Game	12.11	14.46
Aces Per Game	2.02	1.5
Digs Per Game	14.89	14.07
Blocks Per Game	1.64	1.11

RECORD BREAKING
OU broke a number of team and individual rally scoring records this weekend.
Below is a list of the new records:

INDIVIDUAL
Three Games
Hitting Percentage	.652	Adams vs.Providence, 9/3/04
---------------------------
Five Games
Digs	21	Tengram vs. UTPA, 9/4/04
Assists	58	Jackson vs. UTPA, 9/4/04
---------------------------
TEAM
Three Games
Kills	52	vs. Grambling State, 9/4/04
Assists	48	vs. Grambling State, 9/4/04
*Aces	11	vs. Providence, 9/3/04

* Indicates a tied record

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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