Volleyball Hosts Baylor Wednesday

Nov. 13, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - The No. 22 Oklahoma volleyball team is closing out its regular season and only has two home matches remaining. The Sooners will play the first of the two this Wednesday as OU (19-7, 11-5 Big 12) hosts Baylor (14-13, 6-10 Big 12) at 7 p.m. inside the McCasland Field House. The Sooners beat the Bears, 3-1, in the match in Waco earlier this season.

LIVE STATS
Live stats of Wednesday'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
Wednesday's match will mark Sooner Kids' Club Night and the first 500 fans will receive a free OU Schooner hat. 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 Baylor Bears enter Wednesday's match in eighth place in the Big 12 after dropping their last three straight with losses to Missouri, Iowa State and No. 12 Kansas State. However, the Bears were on quite a roll prior to that as they won five straight. The Sooners got back in the win column last Wednesday with a sweep of Texas Tech and will be aiming to close out the regular season in strong fashion. With only four matches remaining, the Sooners are currently in a battle with Kansas State for third place in the league. The Wildcats are one win ahead of the Sooners but only have three matches remaining and were also swept by the Sooners earlier this season.

SCOUTING BAYLOR
The Bears biggest advantage Wednesday night will be in the blocking category where they are sixth in Big 12 play with 2.83 blocks per game compared to OU's 2.15 blocks per game in Big 12 action (11th in the league). Anna Breyfogle is leading the Baylor defense at the net with 1.48 blocks per game (third in the league). In the earlier meeting against the Sooners, Breyfogle tallied seven block assists against the Sooners, earning her Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. Offensively, BU is averaging a .226 hitting percentage during Big 12 play with Katie Sanders leading the way with 4.08 kills per game (seventh in the Big 12).

LAST TIME THEY MET
The two squads met earlier this season in Waco as OU dropped the first game but battled back to win 3-1 (27-30, 30-26, 30-22, 30-23). The Sooner offense had five different players record double-digit kills as Mariana Blum led the way with 20 while Francie Ekwerekwu was extremely consistent with a .458 hitting percentage. Setter Julie Chester recorded a four-game school record with 63 assists in the match. Ekwerekwu and Anna Stadel led the defensive effort for the Sooners with four block assists each while Hannah Sharp and Bridget Laplante collected a team-high 15 digs each.

SERIES RECORDS
Sooners lead the all-time series between the schools, 24-13. Oklahoma has claimed nine of the last 11 matches from the Bears. Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996, OU owns a 14-9 record against Baylor.

SOONERS SWEEP TEXAS TECH
The Sooners recorded their second straight sweep over Texas Tech this season with a 3-0 victory (30-23, 30-21, 30-23) over the Red Raiders last Wednesday. Freshman setter Samantha Arriaran, filling in for injured senior Julie Chester, led the squad to its highest hitting percentage of the Big 12 season with a .348 clip in three games. Senior Sarah Weiland was instrumental in the strong offensive performance as she recorded a team-high 18 kills on a .600 hitting percentage. Weiland only recorded three errors in 25 total attempts.

ON PACE WITH 2006
The 2006 squad, which was picked to finish 10th in the conference race, recorded the best record in school history (28-6) and finished second in the Big 12 standings. Now, the 2007 squad is having a similar season to last year's record-breaking season. The Sooners, who were picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 preseason poll this year, are currently 19-7 overall while the 2006 squad was 20-6 after 26 matches In addition, Oklahoma is the surprise of the Big 12 for the second straight year as it is currently in third in the Big 12 standings.

UP NEXT
The Sooners will head to Lincoln, Neb., this Saturday as they face the No. 2 Huskers. Oklahoma will return home next Wednesday to host Missouri for its final home match of the regular season and Senior Night.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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