No. 25 Volleyball Sweeps Again

NORMAN, Okla. Head coach Santiago Restrepo earned his first win over the Kansas Jayhawks in his career as the No. 25 Oklahoma volleyball team swept Kansas (8-9, 1-7 Big 12) Saturday night inside the Howard McCasland Field House. The Sooners extended their winning streak to five after recording their 12th sweep of the season with scores of 30-21, 30-24, 32-30.

Oklahoma currently sits at third place in the Big 12 standings with a 14-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in conference play with its only loss in the league coming to No. 1 Nebraska.

“Kansas is always a tough team and Coach Bechard runs a great program so it's always great to beat a team of KU's caliber,” head coach Santiago Restrepo said. “Their squad puts up a tough block at the net so I thought our offense did a great job against that tonight.”

Box Score | Cumulative Stats | 2006 Schedule

Oklahoma dominated the first two games as Kansas opened the match with a 1-0 lead, but would never lead again in the first two frames. Led by Bridget Laplante's five kills and a .625 hitting percentage in game one the Sooners rolled to victory recording a team hitting percentage of .324. Following KU's opening point in the first frame, Oklahoma used a 4-0 rally and another 5-0 run to push OU's lead to 13-7 to run away with the game.

The Sooners dominated the second set as senior Joanna Schmitt pounded nine kills in the game and Oklahoma cruised to a 30-24 victory, never trailing once in the entire set.

Game three was a different story as Kansas hung with the Sooners through the extended game. Similar to game one, Kansas took the first point of the game but OU would lead the rest of the way until KU took back the lead at 18-17 and held it until OU rallied back to tie it up at 29-29 after a kill by Eliane Santos.

KU took the lead again at 30-29 after an Oklahoma service error, but OU wouldn't be denied as Sarah Weiland pounded a kill to tie it up 30-30. After an attack error by KU's Emily Brown, Laplante pounded a kill and OU earned the win.

Schmitt and Laplante highlighted the Oklahoma offense as Laplante recorded a match-high 15 kills on an impressive .452 clip while Schmitt pounded 14 kills.

Guiding the Oklahoma offense to its best hitting percentage in Big 12 play this season, a .305 clip, was Oklahoma setter Rachel Jackson who tallied 51 assists.

Defensively, Laplante recorded her second double-double of the season after collecting 10 digs while libero Anna Monsen recorded a match-high 17 digs.

Oklahoma, the Big 12 leader in blocks, recorded 12 stuffs at the net behind Santos' five block assists and three block solos. Senior Laura Tomes was also a force with her three block assists.

The Sooners hit the road next week for a pair of Big 12 matches. OU will take on Texas Tech at 7 p.m. next Wednesday and travel to Manhattan, Kan., next Saturday for a 7 p.m. meeting against the Kansas State Wildcats.

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