No. 21 OU Hosts Texas A&M Saturday

Oct. 26, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - The No. 21 Oklahoma volleyball team will return to the McCasland Field House this Saturday to host the Texas A&M Aggies 17-6, 6-6 Big 12) at 7 p.m. The two squads met in the Big 12 opener in College Station earlier this season as Oklahoma rallied from a 2-0 deficit to knock off then-No. 25 ranked Texas A&M, 3-2.

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.

PROMOTIONS/TICKETS
The first 500 fans through the doors on Saturday night will receive free drawstring bags. 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.

THE MATCH UP
The Aggies enter Saturday night's match with a 6-6 mark in Big 12 play. Since dropping its first loss of the season to Oklahoma, Texas A&M has also lost to Missouri, Texas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Iowa State and currently sits in sixth place in the Big 12 standings. In Big 12 action, the Aggies own the statistical advantage against the Sooners in every category except for opponent hitting percentage. However, the scrappy Sooners currently sit in third place in the Big 12 standings after knocking off Texas A&M earlier this season and only dropping three Big 12 losses to No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 Texas and Missouri.

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
The Aggies are one of the top offensive teams in Big 12 action as they are averaging a .241 hitting percentage (fourth in the Big 12) and are also tallying 15.60 kills per game (fifth in the Big 12). Leading the Aggie offense is Sarah Ammerman, who is recording 4.12 kills per game while Mary Batis follows with 3.29 kills per game. Ammerman and Batis were the offensive leaders against OU earlier this season as each recorded 20+ kills in the five-game loss to the Sooners.

Defensively, the Aggies are collecting 15.81 digs per game (fourth in the Big 12) and recording 2.86 blocks per game in Big 12 action. Batis is leading the team in digs with 3.64 while libero Jen Moore follows with 3.24 digs per game. At the net, TAMU has two different Aggies leading the way with Jillian Phillips tallying 1.41 blocks per game (fourth in the league) and Kelsey Bryant with 1.02 per game.

PLAYER TO WATCH: SARAH WEILAND
Senior outside hitter Sarah Weiland has been on fire for the Sooners in their last three matches. In OU's last three matches, Weiland has led the team with 3.72 kills per game on a .316 hitting percentage while also leading the team in aces with 0.45 per game. Defensively, Weiland has also been stellar with 0.64 blocks per game and 1.36 digs per game. Through the entire season Weiland has been OU's most efficient hitter as she owns a .290 hitting percentage through 22 matches.

LAST TIME THEY MET
The Sooners and Aggies played an intense match in the first meeting of the season in College Station. Oklahoma trailed 2-0, but made a big rally for its first five-game win of the season.

The Sooners knocked off then-No. 25 Texas A&M 3-2 (26-30, 26-30, 30-27, 30-24, 15-13). The win marked only the second time in the series history the Sooners recorded a win in College Station.

Mariana Blum and Bridget Laplante led the offense for the Sooners in the earlier meeting. Blum recorded a match-high 24 kills while Laplante recorded a .354 hitting percentage with 21 kills.

SERIES RECORDS
Texas A&M leads the all-time series history 32-4. However, OU has claimed three straight in the series with two victories in College Station and one in Norman. OU's only other victory against the Aggies was on Sept. 15, 1979 in Denton, Texas.

SOONERS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Oklahoma owns a 3-3 record against ranked opponents with two five-game road wins over then-No. 25 Texas A&M and No. 16 Kansas State and another defeat over No. 14 Kansas State in Norman. OU dropped a non-conference match to No. 18 San Diego and was swept by No. 1 Nebraska and No. 6 Texas. OU's upset over No. 8 Texas last season marked the school's first win over a ranked team since 1998.

WEILAND LEADS OU TO 3-1 WIN OVER BUFFS
Led by Sarah Weiland's team-high 18 kills the Sooners outlasted Colorado Wednesday night as the Sooners downed the Buffs, 3-1 (30-27, 24-30, 31-29, 30-25) in Boulder, Colo. Weiland led the offense as four different Sooners recorded double-digit kills. Mariana Blum added 14 while Bridget Laplante and Anna Stadel followed with 10 each. Hannah Sharp was solid on the defensive end for the Sooners as she collected 20 digs for the Sooners.

BEST START IN SCHOOL HISTORY
The Sooners tied the 1984 squad with the best start in school history. The 1984 team opened the season at 15-4 and the 2007 squad recorded a 15-4 mark before losing to No. 6 Texas. 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.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma will hit the road again next Wednesday as it travels to No. 5 Texas, who is coming off a dominating win after handing No. 1 Nebraska its first loss of the season on Wednesday night. The Sooners and Longhorns will battle it out at 6:30 p.m. in Austin.

Oklahoma will be on the road all week as it follows its Austin trip with a match against Kansas next Saturday in Lawrence. The Sooners and Jayhawks will meet at 7 p.m.

HOME SWEET HOME
OU's 15-match home win streak was snapped by No. 1 Nebraska on Oct. 13. Prior to that OU's last loss at home was in 2006, also to No. 1 Nebraska. Including the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Oklahoma is 20-4 at the McCasland Field House

SOONERS MOVE UP TO NO. 21
The Sooners climbed up another two spots to No. 21 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll released on Oct. 22. The ranking comes after OU knocked off No. 14 Kansas State for the second straight time this season. The Sooners moved up two spots from last week's ranking of No. 23.

The Sooners are one of four Big 12 teams ranked in the top-25. Nebraska remains No. 1 in the country with its undefeated record while Texas moved to No. 5 and Kansas State fell to No. 15 in the latest poll.

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 and the Oct. 8 poll.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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