Volleyball Beats Texas Tech, 3-2

NORMAN, Okla. It took five games, but the Oklahoma volleyball team claimed its first Big 12 win of the season with a 3-2 (30-25, 30-32, 30-21, 27-30, 15-13) victory over Texas Tech Wednesday night inside the Howard McCasland Field House. The Sooners snapped their 12-match losing streak and pushed their overall mark to 6-15 and 1-11 in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders dropped to 11-11 and 4-7 in conference play.

"I'm so proud of this team," head coach Santiago Restrepo said. "They have been working so hard everyday in practice and it's great to see their hard work pay off. We let it get a little close, but our girls showed great character in finishing out the entire match."

Boxscore: OU 3, Tech 2 | 2005 Season Stats

In a match that saw 43 tied scores and 19 lead changes, the Sooners won their first five-game match of the season after dropping four earlier this season. The Red Raiders only hit at a .138 clip for the match while the Sooners' output was .059 higher. In addition, Tech added 39 errors while Oklahoma only tallied 33 in the match.

Defensively, the Sooners shattered three different five-game rally-scoring records. Sophomore Anna Stadel and junior Eliane Santos each tallied 10 block assists, breaking the previous individual rally-scoring mark of nine shared by three Sooners (including Stadel).

With the help of Stadel and Santos, Oklahoma also broke the five-game rally-scoring team block assists mark. The defense combined for 42 block assists on the night, breaking the previous mark of 38 (also set against Texas Tech in 2004). OU's 22 total team blocks bested Tech's by six.

In the back row, junior Anna Monsen made her second start of the season at libero and had an impressive performance, collecting a career-high 26 digs. In addition, that mark set a new OU rally-scoring record (the earlier mark was 21).

Overall, the team collected 72 digs on the night compared to Texas Tech's 64.

Oklahoma had a balanced offensive attack on the night with five Sooners recording double-digit kills. Santos led the way, pounding a team-high 18 kills on a .275 clip to post a double-double on the evening (10 block assists). Sophomore Sarah Weiland followed with 14 kills while hitting at .385.

Schmitt collected a double-double with a 12-kill, 17-dig performance. Junior Laura Tomes posted a match-high .450 clip while pounding 10 kills and adding seven block assists. Senior Gabriela Tonon rounded out the Sooner scoring with her 10 kills on the night.

Setters Julie Chester and Rachel Jackson were efficient on offense, tallying 35 and 26 assists, respectively. Chester was also solid defensively, collecting nine digs against the Red Raiders.

Despite the loss, Texas Tech's Philister Sang, a junior transfer, had an impressive outing with 27 kills on the night. Senior libero Desiree Batista collected 18 digs for the Tech defense.

Oklahoma will only have one day of rest before taking its momentum on the road as it takes on the Texas A&M Aggies this Friday at 6 p.m. in College Station, Texas.

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