Volleyball In Tournament Action This Weekend

NORMAN, Okla. - The Sooner volleyball team has little time to rest after sweeping UT-Arlington in its home opener Wednesday night. OU hits the road this weekend for its final tournament of the regular season. The Sooners open Dome Rally play against Rice (4-1) in an 11 a.m. contest Friday. Next, OU will take on No. 19 Notre Dame (3-0) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and round out the tournament with a 5 p.m. meeting against host school UT-San Antonio (3-1) on Sunday.

The eight-team tournament will feature some of the top women's volleyball teams across the country. The Sooners and their opponents will be joined by No. 6 Florida, No. 8 USC, No. 13 Texas A&M and Louisiana State. The tournament is being played inside the Alamodome, the site of the 2005 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships.

Live stats of the match will be available at:
http://goutsa.com/livestatsvb/xlive.htm.

Match Notes (PDF) | Statistics

This weekend will be a tough test for the Sooners, who have only dropped one match on the young season. Oklahoma will be without its preseason All-Big 12 selection, junior outside hitter Joanna Schmitt, who is sidelined with an ankle injury. However, new faces have been contributing to the Sooner lineup since the absence of Schmitt.

While veteran senior Gabriela Tonon (3.24 KPG) continues to be an offensive presence, the play of sophomore transfer Sarah Weiland and junior transfer Eliane Santos has been impressive. Weiland has already set the school record for aces in a match (9) and is averaging 2.53 KPG.

Santos entered her first match as a Sooner against UTA this past Wednesday and did not disappoint. The two-time junior college All-American (College of Southern Idaho) pounded a match-high 19 kills and collected 12 digs on defense.
Junior setter Rachel Jackson will be the key to the Sooner offense this weekend. In Jackson's last match, she set a school record for assists in a three-game rally-scoring match with 56.

Sophomore transfer Hannah Sharp, a Louisville product, leads the defensive charge for the Sooners with 3.35 DPG while sophomore Anna Stadel leads OU at the net with 1.00 blocks per game.

Scouting Rice
OU will look to maintain its perfect series record against Rice (3-0) when it takes on the Owls Friday. Rice was on a four-match winning streak prior to dropping its last match to the Big 12's Texas Tech. Through four matches, Conference USA member Rice is hitting at a .236 clip, but has held its opponents to a .151 mark. Senior outside hitter Olaya Pazo is tops in kills with 4.95 per game.

Scouting Notre Dame
The Sooners will face their first ranked team this season in No. 19 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are coming off their best victory in two years with an upset of then-No. 11 Texas in their Shamrock Invitational Tournament. Notre Dame's top player, senior middle blocker Laura Brewster was named the CVU Player of the Week this week for her efforts against Michigan and Texas in the Shamrock Invitational. Brewster leads the team with 4.77 kills per game while also averaging 1.62 blocks per game.

Scouting UTSA
Host team Texas-San Antonio is off to its best start in four years (3-1) and has swept all three matches it has won this season. Junior outside hitter Meagan Daniel, a two-time All-Southland Conference selection, leads the squad with 3.57 kills per game. Defensively, junior defensive specialist adds 5.0 digs per game and is the current Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

Up Next For The Sooners
Following the Dome Rally, Oklahoma will begin preparation for the Big 12 season, which begins at home next Wednesday, Sept. 14 against Kansas State at 7 p.m. inside the Howard McCasland Field House.

Jackson Breaks Assists Record
Junior Rachel Jackson set a new three-game rally-scoring record with 56 assists against UT-Arlington in the Sooners' home opener. Ironically, Jackson broke her own previous record of 46 that she set last year on the exact same date (Sept. 7) against Oral Roberts.

Sooners Set New Team Assists Mark
Led by Rachel Jackson's record-breaking performance against UTA (9/7), OU set a new three-game rally-scoring team assist record of 57. The previous record of 53 was also set last year on the same day against Oral Roberts.

Santos Shines In Opener
In her first match as a Sooner, two-time junior college All-American (College of Southern Idaho) Eliane Santos posted a double-double with 19 kills and 12 digs for the Sooners. The junior middle blocker led all players in kills and tied teammate Joanna Schmitt's mark for the most kills in a three-game rally-scoring match at OU. Schmitt set the record last weekend against Indiana.

Barnes Makes Sooner Debut
Freshman Lacy Barnes made her debut in the Sooner lineup at OU's home opener against UTA. Barnes, the only freshman to play in the match, showed promise adding five digs for the Sooner defense and adding one assist for the Oklahoma offense.

Schmitt Earns All-Tourney Honors
Despite not playing in the final match of the Hampton Inn Bama Bash due to injury, Oklahoma junior outside hitter Joanna Schmitt was still selected to the Hampton Inn Bama Bash All Tournament team for her efforts against Indiana and Loyola-Chicago on Friday, Sept. 2. Schmitt hit at an impressive .547 clip in tournament action while pounding 42 kills and collecting 16 digs in two matches.

In addition, The preseason All-Big 12 team member pounded a match-high 19 kills against Loyola-Chicago while hitting at an impressive .567 clip, a new career high. Schmitt's previous career high in hitting percentage was .486, set against Oral Roberts last September.

Schmitt set a new three-game rally-scoring record with her 19 kills. Schmitt held the previous mark of 18 that was set her freshman season against Drake.

Weiland Serves Up New Record
Sophomore transfer Sarah Weiland, a Tulane product, broke all sorts of records after serving up nine aces against Loyola-Chicago in the Hampton Inn Bama Bash. Weiland set an Oklahoma sideout-scoring record as well as a new 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.

Weiland also set new Big 12 records with her strong performance. She now holds the four-game rally scoring aces record mark in the conference. The previous record was eight and held by Katia Lara of Texas (2000). Currently, Weiland leads all Big 12 players with 15 aces on the season (1.25 per game).

Newcomer Contribution
The Sooners have had multiple newcomers who have been strong additions to the Sooner lineup. Sophomore transfers Hannah Sharp (Louisville) and Sarah Weiland (Tulane) have been consistent leading contributors to the Sooners defensively and offensively. Sharp has collected double-digit digs in four matches while Weiland adds 1.07 aces a game and 2.53 KPG.

Abbi Owens, a 5-9 outside hitter from Missouri, had been the lone freshman Sooner to receive noticeable playing team. Owens missed most of preseason after suffering a concussion, but made her first collegiate appearance against Loyola where she tallied five kills in two games. Following Loyola, Owens played in all three games against Indiana and collected five digs for the Sooners.

Schmitt Sets New Career Mark
It only took her one match into the 2005 season to break the rally-scoring career record in digs for the Sooners. Junior Joanna Schmitt, a preseason All Big 12 selection, set the new career bench mark of 622 digs after collecting a team-high 13 digs in her first outing of the season (8/27).

The Cottage Grove, Wis., native already owns the rally-scoring career mark in kills with a current tally of 990 and two more seasons ahead of her.

Additionally, Schmitt is on pace to break the rally-scoring aces mark (73) and needs only 14 more to do so. Schmitt led the team in aces in 2004 after recording 20 over the course of last season.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Volleyball In Tournament Action This Weekend

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors