No. 22 Volleyball Opens at Home Friday

Aug. 23, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - For the second straight season, the No. 22 Oklahoma volleyball squad will be opening its season at home. The Sooners will host the Sooner Legends Nike Invitational this Friday and Saturday (Aug. 24-25) inside the Howard McCasland Field House.

The four-team tournament will be a tough opening test for the Sooners as the field includes NCAA qualifier Alabama as well as Denver and Seton Hall. The Sooners will kick off their portion of the tournament against Denver at 7 p.m. Friday night while Seton Hall and Alabama will open the tournament on Friday a with a 5 p.m. matchup.

Tournament action will conclude on Saturday with four matches. Oklahoma will open the morning session with a 10 a.m. contest against Seton Hall and close out the tournament Saturday evening with a 7 p.m. meeting against Alabama, who is receiving votes in the top 25.

LIVE STATS AND WEBCAST
Live stats of every match in the tournament will be available via SoonerSports.com while the OU matches will also be broadcast live on Oklahoma All Access.

PROMOTIONS/TICKETS
During each OU match, posters and schedule magnets will be available for all fans. Admission will be a day pass that is $7 for adults and $5 for children. The pass will allow access to every match that day. All OU students are admitted free with an OU ID.

SCOUTING DENVER
The Pioneers enter the season in familiar form as five of their starters return from a 2006 squad that produced a 19-12 overall record. Denver was picked by the Sun Belt coaches to finish first in the western division in the preseason poll. Middle blocker Kim Muller also highlighted the coaches' preseason squad as second team pick. Muller, a senior, led last year's squad with 3.03 kills per game and 0.98 blocks per game.

SCOUTING SETON HALL
The Pirates return four starters from last year's squad that finished ninth in the Big East with a 16-14 overall record. Seton Hall's top four point producers are returning for the 2007 season. Tricia Meyers highlights the list of returnees. As a sophomore last season, Meyers averaged 3.93 kills per game as well as 0.99 blocks per game. Also highlighting the offensive side of the ball is sophomore outside hitter Alie Matters, who averaged 3.67 kills per game as a freshman as well as 3.59 digs per game on defense.

SCOUTING ALABAMA The Crimson Tide barely missed making the preseason top 25 as they received votes in the coaches poll. Similar to the other two squads, Alabama will be returning five starters from last year's NCAA Tournament team. Senior middle blocker Crystal Hudson returns as the top offensive producer as she led the team with 3.93 kills per game and 1.09 blocks per game in 2006. Outside hitter Bridget Fuentez also returns after averaging 3.82 kills per game and 2.78 digs per game last season.

PLAYER TO WATCH
Senior outside hitter Sarah Weiland is one of only two starters returning from last year's record-breaking squad. Weiland averaged 2.39 kills per game last season, but will be relied upon much more heavily this season. The senior was also solid on defense as she averaged 0.71 blocks per game.

SOONERS RANKED NO. 22 IN PRESEASON POLL The University of Oklahoma volleyball team is slotted at No. 22 in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll that was released on Aug. 14. It marks the first time in school history the Sooners have been ranked in the preseason top-25.

Oklahoma is coming off its best season in school history as the Sooners recorded a 28-6 overall record in 2006 and finished at No. 12 in the country after advancing to only its second Sweet 16 appearance in school history.

The Sooners have been ranked in the top-25 for 12 straight weeks since entering the poll last October for the first time since 1988, the only other year in the program's history that the Sooners were slated in the top-25.

OU IN SEASON OPENERS UNDER RESTREPO
Since the inception of the Big 12 era, the Oklahoma volleyball team is 5-6 in season openers. Under head coach Santiago Restrepo (2004 - present), the Sooners own a 2-1 mark after dropping a close five-game match to Arkansas in the Sooner Legends Invitational last year.

This weekend marks the second straight year since the start of the Big 12 Conference that Oklahoma will open the season on its home floor at the Howard McCasland Field House.

RECAPPING 2006
OU finished arguably the best season in program history in 2006, ranked 12th in the final poll with a 28-6 overall record and a second place finish in the Big 12.

Head coach Santiago Restrepo earned Big 12 and Central Region Coach of the Year honors after OU recorded the best wining percentage in school history (.824) and one of the most impressive turnarounds in the country (and best in Big 12 history).

The performance earned Oklahoma a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997. Oklahoma advanced to the Sweet 16 round for only the second time in school history before falling to Pac-10 powerhouse UCLA.

Two Sooners earned All-America honors, another first since the 1997 season. Senior Eliane Santos was named a third team All-American and Joanna Schmitt earned honorable mention honors.

FAST FACTS ON THE 2007 SQUAD
Oklahoma returns only two starters from last year's squad, sophomore Bridget Laplante and senior Sarah Weiland ... OU's newcomer class is one of the largest in history with six rookies and two sophomore transfers ... Jasmine Powell, a freshman from Norman North High School, is the first Oklahoma native to be on the roster in the Restrepo era at OU ... Freshman setter Samantha Arriaran's older sister, Erika, plays basketball at the University of Texas and both are friends with OU's Paris twins ... Freshman Sarah Machen's brother plays quarterback at Baylor.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 22 Volleyball Opens at Home Friday

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