Volleyball Pounces No. 12 Missouri

NORMAN, Okla. Knocking off another ranked team, the No. 23 Oklahoma volleyball squad swept the No. 12 Missouri Tigers (13-6, 7-3 Big 12) Wednesday night to extend its winning streak to eight, its longest of the season. The Sooners dominated the three-game match, 30-18, 30-18, 30-26, as they now sit by themselves in second place in the Big 12 standings with a 9-1 league mark and a 17-3 overall record.

The Oklahoma offense was clicking on all cylinders as the squad recorded a .352 hitting percentage, its highest clip in Big 12 play this season. With setter Rachel Jackson recording 48 assists, every Sooner hit over .240 for the match. Pacing the offense were Joanna Schmitt, Laura Tomes and Sarah Weiland.

“This was the best three games I have seen us play all season,” head coach Santiago Restrepo said. “I was very impressed with our offense as we were able to hit over .300 against a very good team that is ranked 12th in the country.”

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Schmitt led all players with 15 kills while Tomes and Weiland added 12 kills a piece. Tomes and Weiland were extremely consistent as Tomes recorded a .526 hitting percentage while Weiland recorded a match-high .667 clip.

The Sooner defense was not lacking either as senior libero Anna Monsen continues to be stellar in the back row for the Sooners. Monsen set a three-game OU rally-scoring record with her 26 digs.

Oklahoma, the top blocking team in the conference, recorded eight blocks to MU's three. Tomes led the way at the net with two solo blocks as well as three block assists. Schmitt added three block assists while Eliane Santos and Weiland each added two apiece.

OU came out on fire as it jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first game and never trailed as it dominated the entire game led by the play of Tomes. Tomes added five kills in game one on a stellar .714 hitting percentage.

In game two the Sooners again took an early lead, but Missouri battled back to retake the lead at 7-6. However, OU would use a huge 10-0 rally, highlighted by three Laplante kills, to take a dominating 27-14 lead as it went on to take game two, 30-18.

The deciding third game was a different story as it had 14 ties and six lead changes. The final tie in the third frame came at 21-21, but two straight kills by Santos and Laplante gave OU the edge it would not lose. The game was capped off with a Laplante kill that gave the Sooners the 30-26 win in the final frame.

“It was another great win for us tonight, but we are going to continue to play one match at a time,” Restrepo said. “We face a very tough team this Saturday that we must prepare for.”

The road doesn't get any easier for the Sooners as they finish the week with a road trip to Austin for a rematch with the No. 9 Texas Longhorns (12-5, 7-3 Big 12) on Saturday night. The Sooners defeated the Horns, who lost to No. 1 Nebraska in five games Wednesday night, for the first time ever in the series history last month in a five-game win at the Field House.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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