OU Sweeps in Home Finale

Nov. 21, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - The No. 21 Oklahoma volleyball team closed out its home season in strong fashion as it avenged an earlier season loss to Missouri and swept the Tigers, 3-0 (30-25, 30-26, 30-25), Wednesday night in OU's final home match of the season. The Sooners improved to 21-8 overall and 13-6 in Big 12 action while the Tigers fell to 16-12and 9-10 in the league.

"This was a great way to finish our home regular season," head coach Santiago Restrepo said. "I thought our defense was really strong and that brought momentum to our offense which also played well tonight. We need to carry this momentum into our final match this Saturday at Iowa State. It was a total team effort tonight and I'm really pleased with the way we stepped up tonight."

On a night that honored OU's five-member senior class in its final match at the Field House, redshirt freshman Francie Ekwerekwu stole the show as she recorded a.552 hitting percentage with 16 kills and zero errors in 29 swings.

The seniors were also solid as setter Julie Chester led the offense to a .297 hitting percentage with her 48 assists. The senior also tallied a .571 clip with four kills.

Seniors Sarah Weiland and Anna Stadel tallied 10 kills each with only one error a piece. Fellow senior Mariana Blum was one kill shy of her 17th double-double of the season as she pounded nine kills and led OU's defensive effort with a match-high 20 digs.

The Oklahoma defense was also solid as it collected 74 digs and recorded nine total team blocks. In addition to Blum, sophomore Bridget Laplante collected 17 digs while senior libero Hannah Sharp tallied 12 for the defense.

Ekwerekwu led the front row effort with a match-high five block assists while Weiland added four block assists and Stadel contributed a solo block and three block assists. OU's strong defensive effort was able to hold the Tigers to a .157 hitting percentage for the match.

Oklahoma took control of game one and jumped out to the 18-9 lead, but Missouri closed the gap at 24-20. However, the Sooners stayed strong and Ekwerekwu's kill gave OU the game 30-25. The offense recorded a .295 clip in the first game and was led by Ekwerekwu with her six kills in the frame.

Game two was different from the first as it had nine ties and four lead changes. The Sooners trailed 13-11, but used a 6-1 run to take the 17-14 lead and never looked back as they won 30-26 and took the 2-0 advantage in the match.

The Sooners carried their momentum into game three where they never lost the lead. The two squads tied it up at 1-1, but OU took the lead and never looked back as it jumped out to a 17-7 lead and won the game and the match with a 30-25 win in frame three.

The Sooners will close out their regular season this Saturday as they travel to Iowa State to take on the Cyclones at 6:30 p.m. Oklahoma will also aim for its second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday when the 64-team field is announced at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

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