Oklahoma Wins Twice to Remain Undefeated

Saturday, September 3

Little Rock, Ark.

10:00 AM

University of Oklahoma

Mississippi State

Oklahoma Wins Twice to Remain Undefeated

September 03, 2016 | Volleyball

By: Athletics Communications

Mississippi State

Oklahoma

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Oklahoma

Box Score: vs. MSU | vs. UAPB

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	5
Mississippi State	21	25	25	20	8
Oklahoma	25	25	23	25	15

Stat Comparison
Category	MSU	Oklahoma
Kills	64	71
Pct.	.265	.272
Digs	55	71
Blocks	15.0	7.0

Individual Leaders
Category	MSU	Oklahoma
Kills	Singleton - 23	Ward - 22
Assists	Sato - 29	Alford - 66
Digs	Harris - 20	Manriquez - 24
Blocks	Johnson - 8	Hazelwood - 7

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The University of Oklahoma volleyball team picked up wins over Mississippi State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff to remain undefeated on the season. The Sooners won the UALR Tournament and improved to 7-0 with a five set win over the Bulldogs and sweep of the Lions.

Oklahoma took the first set over Mississippi State in the morning from the Jack Stephens Center, 25-21. The Bulldogs went in front two sets to one by winning the next two by scores of 25-21 and 25-23. The Sooners comeback started with a 25-20 win in the fourth before hitting .450 for a convincing, 15-8 win in the fifth and deciding set.

Redshirt-senior outside hitter Madison Ward (Lawton, Okla.) led the OU attack with 22 kills and hit .296 with nine digs. Senior outside hitter Kimmy Gardiner (Grapevine, Texas) notched her fourth consecutive double-double with 18 kills and 18 digs, while hitting .375.

Junior middle blocker Marion Hazelwood (Beach City, Texas) hit a team-leading .391 on 12 kills and senior middle blocker Micaela Spann (Carrollton, Texas) chipped in with 10 kills.

Mississippi State, which dropped to 5-2, was led offensively by Evie Grace Singleton with 23 kills. Payton Harris led the Bulldogs' defense with 20 digs.

OU redshirt-sophomore libero Rachel Manriquez (Edmond, Okla.) led all players with 24 digs. Sophomore setter Audrey Alford (Norman, Okla.) dished out 66 assists to set a new school record for assists in a five-set match during the 25-point, rally-scoring era. She previously set the record for a three-set match in the current era on Thursday night. The previous record was 60; established by Julia Doyle against Iowa State on November 12, 2014.

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3
Arkansas-Pine Bluff	12	13	10
Oklahoma	25	25	25

Stat Comparison
Category	UAPB	Oklahoma
Kills	22	41
Pct.	-.012	.447
Digs	26	34
Blocks	5.5	6.0

Individual Leaders
Category	UAPB	Oklahoma
Kills	Croby - 6	Spann - 9
Assists	Sahlmann - 12	Alford - 36
Digs	Three Players - 5	Higgins - 9
Blocks	Corby - 3	Spann - 3

The Sooners moved to 7-0 for the first time since starting the 2004 season 8-0, the first under head coach Santiago Restrepo. Oklahoma ran through Arkansas-Pine Bluff; 25-12, 25-13 and 25-10. Oklahoma hit .447 for the match and held the Lions to a .012 attack rate.

Spann tallied nine kills and hit .615, while three different players added seven kills. Sophomore outside hitters Madison Drescher (Southlake, Texas) and Cathryn Cheek (Coppell, Texas) as well as freshman outside hitter Erin Dibble (Frisco, Texas) has seven each with Dibble hitting .538.

Alford connected for 36 assists and senior defensive specialist Abbie Higgins (Amarillo, Texas) picked up nine digs.

For the second week in a row, Gardiner was named tournament Most Outstanding Player. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Alford and Ward.

Oklahoma returns home for three matches at McCasland Field House this week. The action gets underway Thursday, September 8 against Texas-San Antonio.