Volleyball Ends Season in Florida

Nov. 30, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The No. 23 Oklahoma volleyball team went down with a fight, but ended its season in Gainesville, Fla., Friday night as the Sooners fell to the 13th-seeded Florida Gators, 3-0 (30-24, 30-24, 36-34) in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma ends its season with a 22-10 overall record and its second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. It marked only the second time in school history that an Oklahoma volleyball team recorded back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament. The only other time was the 1987 and 1988 season. The Sooners also finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason.

Florida (29-2) advanced to the Regionals which will begin Dec. 7-8.

"I couldn't be more proud of our seniors and the way this entire team has played all season," head coach Santiago Restrepo said. "The last game showed how hard we have fought all season and I'm so proud of them for not giving up. They exceeded everyone's expectations this season."

Senior outside hitter Sarah Weiland closed out her career on a strong note as she was the lone Sooner to record double-digit kills after tallying 13 on a .267 hitting percentage in the match. The senior bounced back from an illness that kept her out of most of OU's win over Florida A&M in the first round on Thursday.

Fellow senior Anna Stadel led the defense with four block assists as the Sooners registered six team blocks to UF's 14.

Florida's defense was too much for the Sooners as it held Oklahoma to a .127 hitting percentage and also out dug the Sooners 66 to 58. In addition the Gator offense was solid with four players recording double-digit kills as the team tallied a .276 hitting percentage.

The Sooners trailed 8-7 in the first game but put together a 4-0 run to take the 11-7 lead, but the Gators followed that with a 3-0 run to even it up again. OU went on another 3-0 run to grab the 15-13 advantage before the media timeout. However, it was the Gators that came out with momentum after the break as they went on a 12-4 run that was the key to the game as they took their largest lead of the game at 25-19 before Oklahoma was forced to call a timeout. Oklahoma couldn't overcome UF's run as the Gators went on to win 30-24.

The Gator offense was on fire in the first game as it recorded a .341 hitting percentage compared to OU's .111 clip in the first frame. UF recorded 18 kills and only four errors in 41 attempts in the first frame. In addition, UF recorded eight team blocks to OU's one in the frame. Despite not winning the first frame, Weiland recorded a game-high six kills on a .400 hitting percentage.

Similar to the first game, both squads battled back and forth in the second game. The Sooners led 9-8, but the Gators used another deadly 7-1 run to take the 15-10 lead before the media timeout. Trailing 17-10, the Sooners put together a 4-0 run to cut UF's lead but the Gators answered back to take the 19-14 lead. The Sooners continued to chip away as they cut UF's lead to three at 25-22, forcing a Florida timeout. OU couldn't get over the hump as UF closed out the frame on a 3-0 run to win 30-24 and take the 2-0 advantage heading into the break.

The Florida defense was once again the difference in the second frame as the Gators out dug the Sooners, 20-12, and out blocked the Sooners four to three. The OU offense was held to a .065 hitting percentage as Weiland and Stadel led the Sooners with four kills each in the frame.

Trailing 3-0 in the third frame, Weiland got the Sooners going with a kill and an ace and the Sooners continued to battle to close the gap at 8-6. Oklahoma went on a key 6-0 run to take its largest lead of the game at 12-8. The Sooners continued to hang on to the lead, but the Gators cut OU's lead to 25-24. Oklahoma didn't back down as a UF service error and a Blum kill gave OU the 27-24 advantage before UF called a timeout.

The Gators followed that up with a 4-1 run to tie it up at 28-28 as OU took a timeout. A Stadel attack error gave UF the lead, but Oklahoma bounced back with a block to tie it up. OU took the 30-29 lead after a Gator attack error, but UF added a kill to tie it back up again. Laplante gave OU the lead again with a kill but back-to-back kills by UF gave the Gators the 32-31 lead as they served for match point. However, OU wouldn't die as Ekwerekwu tied it up with a kill. The Sooners took the lead on a Laplante kill but it was followed by another Gator kill to tie it up at 33-33. Once again the two squads tied it up again with one kill each. A Weiland attack error gave the 35-34 advantage to the Gators and they followed that with another kill to win the game, 36-34, and the match.

The Sooners graduate five seniors in Mariana Blum, Julie Chester, Anna Stadel, Hannah Sharp and Sarah Weiland.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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