Volleyball At Home Saturday Night

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma volleyball team (5-6, 0-3 Big 12) returns to the McCasland Field House for a home contest against the Colorado Buffaloes (4-4, 0-3 Big 12) this Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. Both schools will be battling for its first Big 12 win of the season.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Oklahoma's new mascots, Boomer and Sooner, will be available to take free pictures with fans Saturday night from 6-7 p.m. The first 250 fans through the door will also receive an OU head band.

Colorado and Oklahoma each enter the contest on a three-match losing skid. The Buffaloes three losses have all come against top-25 teams in the Big 12. CU opened Big 12 play against No. 23 Texas before being swept by top-ranked Nebraska and No. 8 Missouri.

Match Notes (PDF) | 2005 Season Stats | Live Stats

The Sooners have endured the same fate after dropping matches to No. 22 Kansas State (0-3), No. 24 Kansas (2-3) and Texas Tech (0-3).

Saturday night's match up will mark the first of two meetings between both squads this season. In 2004, OU claimed its first win over the Buffs since 1996. In the all-time series, CU leads the Sooners by a count of 31-10. In Norman, Colorado leads 13-5.

As an offensive unit, the Buffs rank in the top half of the Big 12 with a 16.25 kills per game mark (fourth in the conference) and 15.21 assists per game (third in the Big 12).

Senior Allie Griffin leads the Colorado offensive charge with a 5.19 kill per game mark, which ranks second in the Big 12. Griffin also leads the team in hitting percentage with a .338 clip. In CU's last two matches against top-10 teams (No. 1 Nebraska, No. 8 Missouri), Griffin has led all scorers with 16 kills in each match.

Quarterbacking the offensive onslaught is junior setter Ashley Nu'u who adds 13.79 assists per game (third in the Big 12).

Statistically, the weaker side of the Buffs is their defense. CU ranks in the bottom half of the Big 12 in blocks (1.68 per game, last in Big 12) and digs (13.57 per game, eighth in the conference).
Senior Nicole Carr owns a team-leading 3.21 digs per game while junior Lara Bossow is CU's leader at the net with 0.61 blocks per game.

The Sooners will be led by junior transfer Elaine Santos as they aim for their first conference win of the season. Santos has been exceptional for the Sooners since entering the starting lineup. For seven consecutive matches, Santos has posted double-digits in kills and ranks sixth in conference matches with 4.18 KPG.

Adding to her offensive output, Santos leads the team in blocks with 1.32 per game and ranks second among the squad with a 2.36 dig per game average.

Since splitting setter duties two matches ago in OU's 6-2 offense, Julie Chester and Rachel Jackson are each averaging 5.6 assists per game.

Defensively, Oklahoma has posted a 2.45 block per game average in conference matches. The Sooners will need to continue their strong play at the net to slow down the Buffs.

Along with Santos' defensive play, the Sooners will need Anna Stadel (1.00 bpg) and Laura Tomes (0.84 bpg) to continue their stellar play up front. In addition, senior Jennifer Adams made a return to the starting lineup against Texas Tech Wednesday night and contributed three block assists, a team high.

The home stand does not get any easier for the Sooners as the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-0) come to town for a Sept. 28 meeting at 7 p.m. in the Howard McCasland Field House.

Wednesday night's promotion is student night with one student winning a 20'' flat screen TV. Additionally, it will be 50-cent hot dog night and the first 250 fans will receive OU pom-pons. All students can get in free with a valid OU student ID.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors