No. 25 Volleyball Sweeps Baylor

NORMAN, Okla. Led by freshman Bridget Laplante's match-high 15 kills, the Oklahoma volleyball team (13-3, 5-1 Big 12) extended its winning streak to four with a sweep of Baylor (13-5, 2-4 Big 12) Wednesday night inside the Howard McCasland Field House. OU used scores of 30-27, 30-25 and 30-21 to record its fifth Big 12 win of the season.

“I thought we started a little slow tonight, but our squad turned up the intensity and we were able to get a win over a good Baylor squad,” head coach Santiago Restrepo said. “We need to continue to increase our intensity and play strong like we did in our final game tonight.”

Box Score | Cumulative Stats | 2006 Schedule

Laplante recorded her fourth straight match with double-digit kills (15). The rookie has been exceptional since the start of Big 12 play as she is averaging 3.41 kills per game in conference action and leading the team to its best start ever in Big 12 history.

“I knew that Bridget would be a key player for us when I was recruiting her and she is stepping up at a key time for us,” Restrepo said.

Offensively the Sooners didn't have one of their best matches as they only hit .190 but the Sooner defense held the Bears to a .095 clip. In a battle at the net between the top two blocking teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma owned the advantage recording 11 blocks to BU's 8.5.

Leading the Sooners at the net was senior Laura Tomes who had seven stuffs which included three block solos and four block assists. Teaming up for other block assists were setter Rachel Jackson with three and Joanna Schmitt and Eliane Santos with two a piece.

Schmitt and libero Anna Monsen headlined the dig column as Schmitt collected a team-high 15 while Monsen wasn't far behind with 13 digs.

Other offensive contributors included Santos who added 10 kills on a .364 clip while Tomes, who ranks ninth in the nation in hitting percentage, posted a match-high .412 clip with eight kills.

In game one OU held its largest lead of the game at 8-4, but Baylor rallied back to take the 19-16 lead. However, the Sooners went on an 8-4 run to take back the lead that they would never lose again. Two Baylor errors and a kill by Santos ended the first frame.

Baylor jumped out to the quick lead in the second game, but once again the Sooners rallied back to take their first lead of the game at 12-11 after an attack error by Baylor. The Sooners never turned back after taking the lead and took game two by five points.

The third game looked like it was going to be a back and forth battle as the score tied up on nine different accounts until OU took the 10-9 lead after a Santos kill. Oklahoma never trailed again and used a 5-0 run in the final five points of the match to claim the game and the match.

Oklahoma will be back in action at home this Saturday as it hosts the Kansas Jayhawks at 7 p.m. inside the Howard McCasland Field House.