Volleyball Goes Two-For-Two Friday

NORMAN, Okla. The Oklahoma volleyball team picked up its second straight win of the day with a four-game victory over Loyola-Chicago Friday afternoon at the Hampton Inn Bama Bash in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Sooners took control of the first game, winning 30-22, but stumbled in the second game and dropped one to the Ramblers, 25-30. OU bounced back to claim the next two games, 30-28, 30-25, and push its overall season mark to 3-0. Loyola fell to 0-2 on the young season.

After suffering injuries to starters Jennifer Adams and Joanna Schmitt, the Sooners battled back with newcomers and upperclassmen taking the reigns. The status of Schmitt and Adams for Saturday's match against Alabama is unknown.

Box Score: OU vs. Loyola | Updated 2005 Stats

One of the Sooners stepping it up was sophomore transfer Sarah Weiland, a former Tulane product, who broke a school record with nine aces in the contest. Weiland broke both the sideout-scoring record as well as the rally-scoring record. Former Sooner Sheena Werling held the rally-scoring record with six aces while Gloria Holcomb held the sideout record with eight. In addition, the Sooners totaled 17 aces which set a new team-rally scoring record.

“I was proud of the way our kids fought through some tough luck,” head coach Santiago Restrepo said. They really battled and stepped up to the challenge when injuries forced us to. Hopefully they will continue to step it up when we play Alabama tomorrow.”

Despite suffering a late injury, Schmitt led all players with 23 kills in the contest which also tied the OU record for most kills in a four-game rally-scoring match. In fact, Schmitt shares the record with former Sooner Logan Pierce and herself after accomplishing the feat twice before. The Wisconsin native owns a hitting percentage of .547 through two games at the tournament.

Senior outside hitter Gabriela Tonon also continued her stellar play after posting 14 kills in the match. It marked the third straight match for Tonon to post double-digit kills.

Quarterbacking the Sooner offense with her consistent and steady play was junior setter Rachel Jackson who added 51 assists for OU. Jackson has stepped it up as an upperclassmen and is averaging 13.2 assists per game.

Newcomer Hannah Sharp (a sophomore from Louisville) continues to impress in the Sooner uniform. The defensive specialist collected a match-high 15 digs, marking her third straight contest to top the double-digit mark. Adding defensive presence was junior Anna Monsen who collected nine digs while Schmitt and Jackson added seven each.

At the net, Oklahoma recorded nine team blocks with the help of sophomore Anna Stadel and junior Laura Tomes, who each posted a match-high three block assists.

Freshman outside hitter Abbi Owens made her collegiate debut and pounded five kills in two games for the Sooners.

Oklahoma is a perfect 9-0 in tournament matches under Restrepo and will put that record on the line when it faces tournament host Alabama Saturday at 1:30 p.m inside the Cave in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Crimson Tide defeated Loyola Friday morning and will go head-to-head with Indiana tonight before facing the Sooners in Saturday's match. Live stats of the match will be available at www.rolltide.com.

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