No. 23 OU Falls to No. 6 Texas, 3-0

Oct. 17, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - Playing in front of over 1,000 fans for the second straight match, the No. 23 Oklahoma volleyball team was unable to stop No. 6 Texas as the Longhorns swept OU, 3-0 (30-21, 30-20, 30-21), Wednesday night at the McCasland Field House.

The Longhorns are the second straight ranked team the Sooners have faced this week and will extend it to three straight on Friday night as they host No. 14 Kansas State.

Oklahoma, who currently sits in third in the Big 12 standings, fell to 15-5 and 7-3 in league play. The Horns improved their mark to 13-3 and 9-1 in Big 12 action.

"We didn't play our best tonight and Texas played extremely well," head coach Santiago Restrepo said. "We can't hang our heads because we need to get ready for a very tough Kansas State team on Friday night. Our defense wasn't strong tonight so we need to have a better outing on Friday."

The Longhorns were on fire on offense as they recorded a .418 hitting percentage behind Lauren Paolini's 11 kills on a .733 hitting percentage and Juliann Faucette's match-high 16 kills. OU's offense only recorded a .135 hitting percentage as Texas, the top-blocking team in the conference, recorded nine blocks against the Sooners.

Sarah Weiland was OU's bright spot on the offensive end as she led the squad with 12 kills on a .375 hitting percentage. Middle blocker Francie Ekwerekwu tallied nine kills while Mariana Blum followed with eight.

OU's defense registered three blocks behind Ekwerekwu and Blum's two block assists each. Bridget Laplante led the Sooners in digs with six while Lacy Barnes, who took over the libero spot in the third game, collected five.

UT came out on fire in frame one as it recorded 18 kills to OU's nine and tallied a .419 clip in the frame. Faucette sparked the squad with six kills in the first frame while only notching one error. The Horns held OU to a .056 hitting percentage in the first set with Laplante and Weiland leading the way with three kills each.

Frame two was similar to the first as UT's offense stayed hot behind Faucette, who added six kills for the second straight set. The OU defense matched UT's numbers with three kills in the frame while Ekwerekwu led the offense to a .172 hitting percentage behind her five kills.

The Sooners had their best outing of the match in the final frame but couldn't stretch the match to a fourth game. Weiland led the offense with seven kills in the final game while Barnes took over the role as libero and collected four digs. However, the UT offense still hit at a .395 hitting percentage as Paolini tallied seven kills in the final frame.

The Sooners will look to get back on the winning track Friday night at 6 p.m. when they host No. 14 Kansas State at the McCasland Field House. The Sooners topped the Wildcats, 3-2, in a tough battle earlier this season in Manhattan.

Friday night's match will also mark Breast Cancer Awareness Night. The first 500 fans through the door will receive a free pink t-shirt.

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