Road Trip to Lubbock Set for Saturday

NORMAN – The Oklahoma volleyball team is set for a road contest at Texas Tech Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.

Live streaming and live stats will be available at texastech.com

GAMEDAY STORYLINES

LAST TIME OUT

The Sooners tallied two wins in its last week of Big 12 action, coming out on top of a thriller with Kansas State 3-2 before ousting Iowa State 3-1.

OU mounted a comeback for a 20-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-16, 16-14 over Kansas State. The contest came down to the wire in the fifth set with the Sooners prevailing 16-14. OU came back from a 10-4 deficit and tied the frame at 12-all as Brianna Kadiku and Ashlynn Dunbar put up a wall on the outside. Kansas State won the next point, but Sanders blasted her 10^th kill of the night to level the score at 13-13. The Wildcats would score again before a Kansas State service error made it 14-14. Dunbar came up big for the Sooners, firing off back-to-back kills to put the match away for OU.

OU pushed its home winning streak to eight matches with a 25-15, 25-12, 23-25, 25-18 win over Iowa State on Oct. 19. The Sooners outhit Iowa State .235 to .121 as OU put away 53 kills. Dunbar led the charge with 13 kills on a .211 clip while Paige Anderson and Sarah Maras were right behind with 12 apiece. Kylee McLaughlin dished out 37 assists to go with 10 digs for a double-double.

Keyton Kinley led OU's defense with 21 digs while adding eight assists of her own. Paige Johnson joined Kinley in double-digit digs with 14. The Sooners put up 7.0 total blocks with Paige Anderson accounting for four of them.

OU tallied 10 service aces in the match, good for a season high. Seven of those came in the second set. Sarah Maras led the Sooners with four.

RPI ON THE RISE

OU checked in at No. 23 in this week's RPI release, jumping eight spots from last week. The Sooners have eight wins over top-100 RPI teams: No. 28 Iowa State; No. 38 Arizona State; No. 63 SMU; No. 75 Yale; No. 78 Indiana; No. 84 TCU; No. 91 Oregon State; and No. 92 Georgia Tech.

OU ranks third in the Big 12 behind AVCA and RPI top-five teams Texas and Baylor.

DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS

Into the fifth week of Big 12 action, OU ranks in the top five among Big 12 teams in five defensive categories: digs (1194), digs per set (16.36), total blocks (165), blocks per set (2.26) and opponent hitting percentage (.175).

The Sooners are first in total digs, amassing 1194. OU also leads the league in digs per set with a 16.36 average.

OU is second in the league in total blocks with 165, trailing only Texas tech (187), while the Sooners are fifth in blocks per set with 2.26.

Oklahoma has held its opponents to a .175 hitting percentage to rank second among Big 12 schools. OU is 11-0 when holding opponents to .100-.199 hitting and 1-0 when keeping them to .000-.099.

Individually, Keyton Kinley leads all Big 12 players in digs (332) and digs per set (5.11). Kinley has three 30+ digs performances this season, with her 32 against Oregon State the second-most by a Big 12 player this year.

Briana Kadiku is second in total blocks (75) and tied for second in blocks per set (1.21).

A VERSATILE TRIO

Sooners' trio of setter McLaughlin, libero Kinley and outside hitter Dunbar have done it all for the Sooners, taking on roles outside their positions.

An offensive threat, McLaughlin has more kills than any other setter in the Big 12 conference with 54 total. She also has 182 digs on the year. With 84 assists to her name, Kinley has more than any other libero in the league.

Dunbar is fourth in digs among the Big 12's outside hitters with 143. She trails only Texas Tech's Emily Hill (227) and Michal Schuler (170) and Eleanor Holthaus (163) of Iowa State.

GO-TO GIRL

Outside hitter Dunbar has proven herself as OU's go-to hitter this season with 656 total attempts. The graduate transfer leads the team in kills with 209, 34 ahead of the next closest player in Sarah Sanders (175).

Dunbar has registered double-digit kills in 11 of OU's 18 matches. She has tallied 15 or more kills in six of those contests, most recently against Kansas State when she put away 15. Dunbar is No. 5 in the Big 12 in total kills (209) and kills per set (3.43). The Seabrook, Texas, native has been responsible for 236.5 total points this season, placing her sixth among league players. Her 3.87 points per set average ranks sixth in the Big 12.

A seasoned all-around player, Dunbar has also racked up 143 digs for the fourth-most by a Sooner this season. Dunbar is OU's only non-defensive specialist to have eclipsed 100 digs in 2019.

CAN'T TOUCH THIS

With 91 aces this season, OU ranks second in the Big 12 from behind the service line. The Sooners average 1.25 aces per set. Oklahoma had a season-high 10 service aces against Iowa State, with seven of those coming in one set. Kadiku has fired off 17 aces with a season-high three against Kansas. McLaughlin has 16 on the year and also registered a season-best three in the Kansas match. Johnson and Dunbar join them in double figures with 14 apiece.

QUICK HITS

The Sooners have sole possession of third in the Big 12 with a 5-2 record against the league.
Oklahoma checks in at No. 23 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings.
OU earned the 800th program win as it defeated Kansas 3-1 in Norman on Oct. 5.
Oklahoma is undefeated at home, compiling a 7-0 record inside McCasland Field House.
The Sooners are undefeated (5-0) in four-set matches and 6-1 in five-set matches.

SCOUTING REPORT

TEXAS TECH

The Red Raiders enter Saturday's contest at 14-7 overall and 4-3 against the Big 12. Texas Tech is 6-1 at home with its sole loss inside United Supermarkets Arena to TCU in five sets.

In its last competition, Tech dropped to Baylor 3-0 in Waco. • OU leads the all-time series with the Red Raiders 37-35. The Sooners took both matches against Texas Tech in 2018, winning 3-1 in Norman and 3-2 in Lubbock.

UP NEXT

The Sooners return to McCasland Field House on Wednesday, Oct. 30 to host No. 1 Baylor.

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