No. 20 OU Hosts Texas A&M Saturday

NORMAN, Okla. - Looking for it second straight win over Texas A&M, the No. 20 Oklahoma volleyball team will host the Aggies Saturday night inside the McCasland Field House at 7 p.m. The Sooners swept Texas A&M in their opening-match of Big 12 play in College Station, marking the first time in 27 years OU beat Texas A&M.

PROMOTIONS & SPECIAL EVENTS
Oklahoma visors will be given to the first 250 fans through the door on Saturday night. Additionally, a presentation honoring senior Joanna Schmitt will follow the match as she recently became the first player in OU rally-scoring history to reach the 1,000 career dig and 1,000 career kill mark.

TICKETS
Tickets still remain for the match against Texas A&M. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children. All OU students are admitted free with an OU ID.

LIVE STATS
Live stats of the entire match will be available on SoonerSports.com. Additionally, O-Zone viewers will have the opportunity to view the match live as it will also be broadcast on OU's web site.

Live Stats | Live O-Zone

THE MATCH UP
Oklahoma is off to its best start in Big 12 history and it all started in OU's opening Big 12 match of the season, a road contest in College Station. In that match the Sooners snapped a 27-year losing streak to the Aggies with an OU sweep in College Station.

Since that meeting, the Sooners have gone on to produce a 10-2 record in the league and sit in second place in the Big 12 standings with a four-match home winning streak. Meanwhile the Aggies, picked to finish fifth in the preseason conference rankings, have struggled on the road with a 1-4 Big 12 road record and a 3-9 conference mark (seventh in the Big 12 standings).

The Aggies are coming off a tough five-game loss to Colorado in College Station Wednesday night while Oklahoma got back into the win column with a 3-1 victory over Kansas Wednesday night in Lawrence. The Aggies three wins this season came against Kansas State, Baylor and Kansas while the Sooners have topped every Big 12 team at least once except for No. 1 Nebraska.

Look for the difference in the match to be at the net where Oklahoma is averaging 3.09 BPG in Big 12 play (third in the league) while Texas A&M records 2.49 BPG in conference action, which ranks ninth in the league. In the previous meeting this season, Oklahoma added 14.5 blocks while TAMU recorded nine.

Big 12 Standings	Big 12 Record	Overall Record
Nebraska	11-0	19-0
OKLAHOMA	10-2	18-4
Texas	9-3	14-5
Missouri	8-4	14-7
Colorado	8-4	12-7
Iowa State	7-5	15-7
Texas A&M	3-9	10-10
Texas Tech	3-9	10-11
Kansas	3-9	10-11
Baylor	2-9	13-10
Kansas State	1-11	9-13

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Offensively, the Aggies and Sooners have very similar statistics as each squad is averaging over 15 kills a game and hitting over .200 for the season. Headlining A&M's crew is preseason All-Big 12 selection Christi Hahn and freshman outside hitter Mary Batis. The two have been A&M's leading offensive producers all season.

In the earlier meeting against the Sooners, Batis led all Aggies with 15 kills on a .265 hitting percentage while Hahn was held to six kills on a .043 hitting percentage. Batis was the lone Aggie to record double-digit kills against the Sooners in the earlier match up.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Aggies are averaging 15.88 digs to OU's 14.95 per game while OU holds the slightest advantage at the net as OU posts 2.899 BPG to TAMU's 2.62 per game.

Middle blocker Kelly Stanton leads the Aggie charge at the net with a team-leading 1.32 blocks per game.

SERIES RECORDS
In the all-time series between the schools, Texas A&M leads 32-2. The Sooners have never beaten the Aggies in Norman. The two OU victories in the series were in Denton, Texas in 1979 and in College Station in the previous meeting this season. In the matches held in Norman, Texas A&M owns a 12-0 mark.

LAST TIME THEY MET
Oklahoma handed Texas A&M its first Big 12 loss of the season as the Sooners swept the Aggies (30-28, 30-26, 30-28) in College Station on Sept. 13 to break a 27-year losing streak to the Aggies and claim only their second win in the all-time series. The Sooner defense limited TAMU to a .172 hitting percentage and pounded 14.5 blocks against the Aggies. Leading the way for the Sooners were Joanna Schmitt and Laura Tomes who pounded 11 kills each while Eliane Santos was huge on defense with eight block assists and one solo block.

UP NEXT: TCU
The Sooners will step out of conference play on Tuesday, Oct. 31 to host TCU at 7 p.m. inside the Field House. It marks the third straight year that head coach Santiago Restrepo has scheduled a non-conference match during the Sooners bye week in the Big 12. Following the TCU match up, the Sooners will get ready to take on No. 1 and undefeated Nebraska in Lincoln on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.

KANSAS IN REVIEW
Head coach Santiago Restrepo earned the first victory of his career in Lawrence, Kan., with a 3-1 (30-23, 30-19, 27-30, 30-25) victory over the Kansas Jayhawks Wednesday night. Four Sooners tallied double-digit kills while junior Sarah Weiland led the way with her season-high 15 kills on an impressive .565 hitting percentage. Joanna Schmitt picked up her 11th double-double of the season with her 11 kills and match-high 17 digs while Bridget Laplante added her fifth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs. In addition to her offensive performance with 12 kills, senior Eliane Santos was a force at the net with four solo blocks, a season high, and five block assists.

SCHMITT MAKES HISTORY
Senior Joanna Schmitt will be recognized after the match Saturday night as she recently became a member of the 1,000 dig club last week. The outside hitter collected her 1,000th career dig against Texas last week and became the lone OU rally-scoring player to accomplish the feat. Schmitt now owns 1,027 career digs and 1,534 kills and is the only Sooner in rally-scoring history to own 1,000 digs and kills in her career. Additionally, the senior outside hitter is only the fourth player in the 32-year history of the program to accomplish the feat.

PLAYER TO WATCH: SARAH WEILAND
Weiland was a key factor in OU's 3-1 victory over Kansas Wednesday night as the junior pounded a season-high 15 kills on a .565 hitting percentage.

In OU's last four matches, Weiland has been exceptional on offense for the Sooners as she has pounded double-digit kills in the last four straight matches. She has been extremely consistent as well, hitting .407 during that time frame.

Weiland, the lone Sooner to start every match this season, is averaging 2.19 KPG and hitting at a .320 clip in Big 12 matches.

BEST RECORD EVER AFTER 22 MATCHES
With the non-conference and first half of the Big 12 season complete, the Sooners are off to their best start ever in the 32-year history of the program. The previous best record was in 1984 when the Sooners went 15-4 to start off the season. Similarly, OU's 10-2 record in Big 12 play marks its best start in Big 12 history and in any conference play since 1987 when OU opened the season at 10-2 during the Big Eight Conference stretch.

SOONERS MOVE INTO TOP-20
Ranked for the first time in 18 years, the Oklahoma volleyball squad continues to climb up the polls as it received a No. 20 ranking in the latest CSTV/AVCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll released Oct. 23. This season marks the first time the OU volleyball program has been ranked since 1988, when it finished with a 23-9 overall mark and 8-4 record in Big Eight play. Prior to this season's ranking, 1988 marked the only season in the 32-year history of the OU volleyball program that it was ranked in the top 25 poll.

SOONERS TOUGH IN BIG 12 ROAD PLAY
The Sooners have been tough in Big 12 road play this season with a 4-1 record in Big 12 road play in some of the tougher venues in the conference. OU's lone loss on the road came against No. 8 Texas in a close five-game battle in Austin. The Sooners have racked up other road wins over Texas A&M, Iowa State, Colorado, Texas Tech, Kansas State and Kansas.

BIGGEST COME BACK SINCE 2004
OU's victory against Texas Tech marked the first time in two years that Oklahoma rallied to win a match after a 2-0 deficit. OU's last win after a 2-0 deficit was a win over Texas-Pan American on Sept. 4, 2004. During that match, OU had to come back from a 28-30 and 25-30 deficit.

MOST WINS SINCE 1997
With an 18-4 record and the first half of the Big 12 season completed, Oklahoma has already accumulated more wins than any other squad since the 1997 team. That season marked OU's last trip to the NCAA Tournament as the team finished with a 20-13, and 13-7 mark in Big 12 play. With a current 10-2 Big 12 mark, it also marks the most league wins since 1997 when OU finished with a 13-7 record.

SOONERS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
This season, Oklahoma has upset two top-25 teams in Texas and Missouri. OU's win against Texas marked the school's first win over a ranked team since 1998 (a victory over then-No. 22 Kansas State). Prior to OU's win, the Sooners had faced 53 ranked opponents, but couldn't pull out a win over any of the top-25 opponents.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
Through 22 matches last season Oklahoma owned a 6-16 overall mark and a 1-12 mark in Big 12 play. In 2006, the Sooners have already surpassed last year's win total in conference and overall. A comparison of the stats below shows what a difference a year makes.

Through 22 Matches 2005 2006

Kills per game	14.20	15.95
Assists per game	13.07	14.68
Digs per game	12.06	14.95
Blocks per game	2.76	2.99

MAKING HISTORY
The 2006 version of the Oklahoma volleyball squad has been all about making history and defying the odds. Below is a list of the accomplishments the squad has achieved this season.

* Win over then-No. 8 Texas marks first-time ever OU has beaten Texas in volleyball and the first time since 1998 that OU beat a top-25 team.

* A sweep of Texas A&M marked the first time OU had beaten Texas A&M since 1979 and its first victory ever in College Station. It was also the first time in the history of the Big 12 that OU collected an opening Big 12 road win.

* Oklahoma beat Colorado for the first time in Boulder since Oct. 13, 1988

* OU cracked the top-25 polls on Oct. 2 for the first time since 1988.

* With a come-from-behind 3-2 win, OU beat Texas Tech in Lubbock for the first time since Oct. 18, 1997.

* OU snaps a 14-match losing streak to Kansas State with a 3-2 win over the Wildcats in Manhattan.

* A 12-match losing streak to Missouri is snapped with an upset of the No. 12 Tigers.

* Sooners 3-1 win over KU marks first victory in Lawrence since Nov. 8, 1997.

SEEING DOUBLE
Outside hitter Joanna Schmitt has been the Sooners' go-to-girl this season. It is no surprise as the senior captain is leading the team with a 4.16 kills per game average (sixth in the Big 12) and has recorded 10 double-doubles already this season.

SOONER SWEEPS
The Oklahoma volleyball team is off to one of its best starts in history and not only is the squad winning, it is doing it in convincing fashion. Oklahoma has swept in 13 of its 18 victories this season. Additionally, the squad set a school record with seven consecutive sweeps from Sept. 2 - Sept. 13.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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