Volleyball Opens with Florida A&M

Nov. 27, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma volleyball team will be making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament as it plays Florida A&M this Thursday at 4 p.m. (CST) in opening-round action in Gainesville, Fla. The Sooners will head to Gainesville, Fla., joining host school and overall No. 13 seed Florida (27-2), Florida A&M (18-7) and College of Charleston (26-7) in the four-team field set for this Thursday and Friday (Nov. 29-Nov. 30).

The Sooners are making their fifth NCAA appearance in school history. Oklahoma was an at-large selection and one of six Big 12 teams to make the tournament which tied the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences with the most teams selected.

In the same regional, Florida will face the College of Charleston at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The winners of both matches will meet on Friday at 6 p.m. for a bid to the Sweet 16 back in Gainesville, Fla. Oklahoma is making its second consecutive appearance after advancing to the Sweet 16 last season. The Sooners made their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1987 and followed that with a 1988 appearance and again in 1997 and 2006.

NCAA Bracket (PDF) | Coach Restrepo and Players React to NCAA Selection

Restrepo led the Sooners to another strong regular season as they finished with an overall record of 21-9, including a 17-3 mark in the Big 12. Oklahoma only returned two starters from last year's record-breaking squad and was picked to finish ninth in the preseason Big 12 poll, but the Sooners were once again the surprise of the Big 12 as they finished fourth in the league and are ranked No. 23 in this week's top-25 poll.

Within the Gainesville bracket, nationally-seeded Florida owns the top mark while OU follows as the No. 2 seed and Florida A&M and College of Charleston round out the four-team field as the third and fourth teams, respectively.

The winner of the First/Second Rounds will advance to Regionals in Gainesville, Fla., the following weekend (Dec. 7-8) against the four-team pod hosted by Texas in Austin. That four-team field includes No. 4 overall seed Texas, LSU, New Mexico State and Texas State.

The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by Cal State at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 13 and 15.

MULTIMEDIA
Live stats will be available through NCAASports.com as well as Florida's web site. In addition every match of the Gainesville Sub-Regional will be broadcast live on the UF web site. Below are links for information regarding the Sub-Regional.

Gainesville Sub-Regional Link | Free Video | Postseason Guide

SCHEDULE
Below is a schedule for the First and Second Rounds in Gainesville, Fla.
(All times Central Standard)

Thursday, Nov. 29
Match One: Oklahoma vs. Florida A&M (4 p.m.)
Match Two: Florida vs. College of Charleston (6:30 p.m.)

Friday, Nov. 30
Finals: Match one winner vs. Match two winner (6 p.m.)

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
With only its fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Sooners do not have a lot of experience in the postseason. However, the Sooners own a winning record of 5-4 (.556) in its four years of experience in 2006, 1997, 1988 and 1987. OU snapped a nine-year drought of going to the tournament last season as it swept its first two opponents in the First and Second rounds before falling to No. 4 UCLA in the Sweet 16.

OU IN FLORIDA
The Sooners own a 4-5 all-time mark in the state of Florida. Oklahoma has only played in Gainesville twice and is 1-1 while owning a 3-4 mark in Orlando.

RESTREPO IN THE NCAA
In his seventh year as a head coach at the Division I level and fourth with Oklahoma, head coach Santiago Restrepo will be making his second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Restrepo made his tournament debut last season as he led the Sooners to a record-breaking year and only its second Sweet 16 appearance in school history. Prior to coaching at OU, Restrepo spent three years at Southern Miss. In his final year with the Golden Eagles, Restrepo earned conference Coach of the Year honors after leading Southern Miss to a program-best record of 27-6 but the Golden Eagles were left out of the NCAA Tournament.

SOONERS WITH NCAA TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
Despite advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 last year, not one player on the 2006 squad had any NCAA experience. While the Sooners graduated four starters and a libero from the 2006 squad, there are at least three players that are familiar with the Big Dance this year. Seniors Sarah Weiland and Hannah Sharp as well as sophomore Bridget Laplante played in all nine games of the NCAA Tournament last season. Weiland was one of OU's top offensive producers as she averaged 3.22 kills per game on a .415 hitting percentage while also adding 0.78 blocks per game. Laplante tallied 2.89 KPG and 2.56 DPG in the tournament. Laplante and Weiland were the lone starters returning this season while Sharp saw action in every game of the 2006 NCAA Tournament as a defensive specialist. Sharp averaged 1.22 digs per game in the minimal amount she played in the NCAA tournament last season.

Florida A&M Rattlers (18-7)

The Rattlers (18-7) earned the automatic bid after winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the eighth time in the last nine seasons. The Rattlers won six straight before dropping their final regular season match to South Florida. Thursday's match will mark the first ever meeting between Florida A&M and Oklahoma. In addition, the only common opponent between the two squads this season is No. 4 seed Texas. The Longhorns swept the Rattlers in Austin this year while Oklahoma was swept twice by the Horns during the Big 12 season.

Florida A&M's best strength is its defense as it is collecting 17.56 digs per game, which tops all other squads in the four-team field. Leading the defense is libero Susan Egoavil, who is collecting 5.60 digs per game while outside hitter Maria Gomez is leading the team with 0.44 blocks per game. Offensively, the squad is averaging 14.96 kills per game on a .232 hitting percentage behind the play of middle blocker Iva Lakic (5.17 KPG) and Jovana Blazeski (4.89 KPG).

Florida Gators (27-2)

The hometown Gators (27-2) are the No. 13 overall seed in the 64-team field, the same overall seed the Sooners were in last season's bracket. Florida also earned the automatic bid after winning the SEC Conference. The Gators, ranked No. 8 in last week's top-25 poll, only dropped two losses all season as they were perfect in the SEC season except for a five-game loss to Arkansas. They lost a five-game heartbreaker to Long Beach State in their final match of the season.

With six all-SEC selections and the SEC Player of the Year in setter Angie McGinnis, the Gators have one of the best offenses in the country. Florida enters the tournament ranked fourth in the nation in hitting percentage (.310), fifth in kills per game (17.43) and sixth in assists (16.17). McGinnis is one of the best in the country as she ranks ninth in the nation with 13.74 assists per game and has five different starters hitting above .300. Defensively, the Gators also bring a big block as they average 3.01 per game behind middle blockers Kelsey Bowers (1.29 BPG) and Kisya Killingsworth (1.23 BPG). The squad is also averaging 17.16 digs per game as libero Elyse Cusack is collecting a team-best 5.26 digs per game.

The Gators and Sooners have only met one other time in the series history. Florida came out on top as the Gators swept the Sooners in Gainesville on Sept. 2, 1995 in the Sun Trust Invitational.

Charleston Cougars (26-7)

The College of Charleston (26-7) is making its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and will open the tournament in Gainesville for the second straight year. The Cougars earned the automatic bid after winning the Southern Conference. The Cougars and Sooners also both own victories over NCAA-Tournament qualifier Alabama. The Sooners and Cougars have never played each other in the series history.

The Cougars have solid stats on both sides of the ball as they are a strong blocking team averaging 2.68 blocks per game. The Cougar defense is led by middle blocker Tiffany Blum, who is leading the squad with 1.30 blocks per game. Fellow middle blocker Annie Uthe also adds 1.03 blocks per game. The back row defense is tallying 17.17 digs per game behind libero Megan Parkerson (3.87 DPG) and outside hitter Cole Dawley (3.61 DPG). The squad is also steady offensively as it is averaging 15.86 kills per game on a .242 hitting percentage. Blum is also leading the pack offensively with 3.37 kills per game on a .324 hitting percentage while Deanna Patrick is contributing 3.02 KPG.

SOONERS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Oklahoma owns a 3-5 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, No. 2 Nebraska (in Lincoln), No. 6 Texas (in Norman) and No. 3 Texas (in Austin).

SURPRISE OF THE BIG 12, AGAIN
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. The 2007 squad is having a similar season to last year's record-breaking squad that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. The Sooners, who were picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 preseason poll this year, finished the regular season with a 21-9 overall mark and finished fourth in the Big 12 final standings.

WEILAND, EKWEREKWU PICK UP BIG 12 HONORS
Senior outside hitter Sarah Weiland represented Oklahoma on the 2007 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team. Weiland averaged 3.01 kills per game on a .253 hitting percentage while also recording 0.64 blocks per game. Redshirt freshman Francie Ekwerekwu was named to the Big 12's inaugural All-Freshman team. The middle blocker tallied 2.61 kills per game on a .344 hitting percentage while also tallying 0.95 blocks per game.

FIVE SOONERS NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12 SQUADS
The Sooners had five players named to the Academic All-Big 12 squads. Highlighting the first team were senior Hannah Sharp, junior Lacy Barnes, sophomore Bridget Laplante and redshirt freshman Francie Ekwerekwu. Senior Anna Stadel rounded out the group with a second team honor. Sharp made her second straight appearance on the Academic All-Big 12 team while Laplante Ekwerekwu, Barnes and Stadel all earned their first academic honor.

OU TRIO NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
The Sooners had three players named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District VI teams this season. Hannah Sharp and Lacy Barnes represented Oklahoma on the second team while Laplante was named to the third team. Sharp collected her second straight Academic All-District honor after being named to the third team in 2006. It marks the first career honor for Barnes, a junior, and Laplante, a sophomore. Oklahoma tied Texas with the most honorees by a school in District VI.

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.

STADEL TOPS THE CHARTS
Senior middle blocker Anna Stadel will finish out her career as the OU career leader in block assists with 265 in her four-year career. Stadel passed previous leader Eliane Santos (262) in OU's final match of the regular season against Iowa State.

SOONERS ADD ANOTHER 20-WIN SEASON
With its win against Baylor on Nov. 14, the Sooners secured their 13th 20-win season. Last season, Oklahoma went 28-6. It marked the first 20-win season for OU since 1997 when the Sooners finished with a 20-13 overall record.

WINNING GAME ONE=PERFECT
Oklahoma has been perfect this season when it has won the first game of the match. The Sooners are 14-0 when claiming the first game and are only 7-9 when dropping the first frame of the match.

OKLAHOMA IN THE POLLS
The Sooners have become a common appearance in the AVCA Coaches Poll the last two years as they have been ranked in the top-25 for seven straight weeks and 22 of the last 26 weeks dating back to last season. In addition, during that 26-week span, the four weeks the Sooners weren't ranked they were receiving votes. That is quite a change for the program because before entering the poll in October of 2006, the Sooners only other year to be ranked in the program's history was 1988. Oklahoma was ranked No. 23 in the latest AVCA Poll that was released on Nov. 26.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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