No. 25 OU Hosts No. 1 Nebraska Saturday

Oct. 12, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - The No. 25 Oklahoma volleyball team begins one of its most challenging weeks of the season as it hosts the defending National Champions, the top-ranked and undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The battle will feature two of the Big 12's top teams as the Sooners are currently tied with Texas for second place in the league standings behind Nebraska. Oklahoma will put its record (15-3, 7-1) to the test against the top offense in the nation in No. 1 Nebraska (15-0, 8-0 Big 12).

Head Coach Santiago Restrepo on the Volleyball Program's Success

PROMOTIONS/TICKETS
The No. 25 Sooners and No. 1 Cornhuskers will highlight a busy weekend of homecoming festivities as the early match time gives Sooner fans an opportunity to catch the match prior to OU's 5:30 p.m. football game against Missouri.

Fans can show their OU/Missouri football ticket at the door of the Field House and receive a discounted $3 general admission ticket to the match. OU students receive free admission with valid student ID. Regular prices are $7 for adults and $5 for youth. Children five and under receive free admission. Additionally, the first 100 fans at the match will receive a free pair of OU Crocs.

PARKING
Due to the football game, fans are encouraged to take advantage of the parking at Lloyd Noble and take the shuttle to the Field House. The shuttle will begin at 12 p.m. and will cost only $2 round trip. Parking will be limited around the Field House because of reserved parking for the football game.

LIVE STATS
Live stats of Saturday's match will be available at SoonerSports.com. A live webcast of the match will also be available on OU's All-Access section of the web site for a fee.

THE MATCH UP
Nebraska, the 2006 National Champions, have been dominating their opponents this season as they have downed six top-25 teams while sweeping 14 of their 15 opponents this season. Nebraska's only four-game match this season came against No. 25 UCLA in its second match of the season. Oklahoma enters the contest with a 15-match home winning streak. OU's last loss in the McCasland Field House was on Sept. 16, 2006 to Nebraska, also No. 1 at that time. The Huskers have won their last 25 straight matches dating back to the 2006 season.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
A perennial volleyball powerhouse, the Huskers enter the match as the nation's top offensive squad while they are also leading the Big 12 in two different defensive categories - digs and opponent hitting percentage. The Huskers are currently leading the nation in hitting percentage (.341), assists (16.91) and kills per game (18.30). In addition, they are tops in the Big 12 in digs (16.57) and are holding their opponents to a Big 12-best .142 hitting percentage.

2006 AVCA National Player of the Year Sarah Pavan is leading a stacked Husker offense as she is tallying 4.76 kills per game while Jordan Larson (3.76 KPG) and Christina Houghtelling (3.42 KPG) are also huge offensive threats. Tracy Stalls is also extremely consistent with her team-best .465 hitting percentage.

Defensively, the teams has three different players averaging over three kills per game with Rachel Schwartz leading the way with 3.88 per game while Houghtelling follows with 3.87 per game. Stalls (1.15 BPG) and Kori Cooper (1.11 BPG) are the leaders at the net for a defense that is tallying 2.79 blocks per game.

LAST TIME THEY MET
Nebraska swept the Sooners in the two matches last season. Oklahoma hosted the Huskers in Norman in its second conference match of the season in 2006. Oklahoma battled but couldn't overcome the No. 1 Huskers as OU fell, 3-0 (30-27, 30-18, 34-32). Nebraska was still the No. 1 team in the land when Oklahoma headed to Lincoln and was swept by scores of 30-19, 30-26, 30-27). Returning OU starter Sarah Weiland averaged 2.50 kills per game on a .267 hitting percentage last season against Nebraska while former Sooner Joanna Schmitt was OU's top offensive producer with an average of 5.00 KPG in the two combined matches.

SERIES RECORDS
Nebraska leads the all-time series between the squads, 65-6. OU's last win against the Huskers was on Oct. 10, 1997, marking OU's only win over Nebraska in the Big 12 era. Since OU's win in 1997, the Huskers have rattled off 19 straight against the Sooners.

OKLAHOMA VERSUS NO. 1
The Sooners are aiming for their first-ever win over a No. 1 ranked team in the program's history. OU's last victory over Nebraska was on Oct. 10, 1997 when the Huskers were ranked No. 5 in the country and the Sooners were unranked.

SOONERS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Following its win against No. 25 Texas A&M and upset over No. 16 Kansas State the Sooners are now 2-1 against ranked teams. Oklahoma's lone loss against the top-25 was to No. 18 San Diego in a close 3-1 match (30-32, 30-22, 24-30, 33-35). Last season, the Sooners were 2-4 against ranked teams during the regular season with two of the losses coming against No. 1 Nebraska. Oklahoma upset No. 8 Texas last season, marking the school's first win over a ranked team since 1998.

SOONERS SWEEP TEXAS TECH
The Oklahoma volleyball team recorded its first sweep of the Big 12 season with a 3-0 win (30-28, 30-26, 30-18) over Texas Tech Wednesday night in Lubbock. The OU defense held Texas Tech to a .060 hitting percentage, a season-low for any opponent this season. Middle blockers Anna Stadel and Francie Ekwerekwu led the way with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

BEST START IN SCHOOL HISTORY
The Sooners are tied with the 1984 squad with the best start in school history. The 1984 team opened the season at 15-3 before dropping two straight. Currently, the 2007 Sooners own a 15-3 record. Additionally, OU's 5-0 start to Big 12 play was the best start to Big 12 action ever for the Sooners. Oklahoma had never even won two straight matches to open Big 12 play prior to this season. The Sooners dropped their only Big 12 match of the season to Missouri.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma's challenging schedule continues next week as it hosts No. 7 Texas at the McCasland Field House on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. meeting. The Sooners will continue their home stand next Friday as they host No. 16 Kansas State at 6 p.m.

FIVE-GAME SUCCESS
The Sooners have been very successful in five-game matches. Oklahoma has played six five-game matches this season and won five of them. Three of the four matches were against teams on the road, including two that were in the top 25 at the time. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Sooners are 12-3 in five-game matches. In 2007 alone, OU is 5-1 in five-game matches.

HOME SWEET HOME
Dating back to last season, the Sooners own a 15-match home win streak at the McCasland Field House. It marks the longest home win streak for the Sooners in the Big 12 era. OU's last loss in the Field House was to top-ranked Nebraska on Sept. 16, 2006.

SOONERS RETURN TO TOP 25
Following its five-game win over Iowa State Saturday night, the Oklahoma volleyball team bounced back into the national rankings at No. 25 in the AVCA Coaches Poll released on Monday, Oct. 8. The Sooners are one of four Big 12 teams ranked in the top-25. Oklahoma will host all three teams in the span of a week beginning this Saturday with a 1 p.m. meeting against top-ranked Nebraska at the McCasland Field House. Oklahoma was ranked No. 22 in the preseason poll and moved to No. 21 in the Aug. 27 poll before falling out. Oklahoma reappeared at No. 25 in the Sept. 24 poll, but was just receiving votes last week.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 25 OU Hosts No. 1 Nebraska Saturday

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors