Sooners To Face Owls in NCAA First Round

NORMAN – The Sooners are set for a 4:30 p.m. CT match against Rice on Thursday at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner will advance to the second round to face the winner of host No. 13 Texas A&M and St. John's on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.

NCAA STORYLINES

DANCING AGAIN
For the first time since the 2014 season, the Sooners are back in the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma is making its 12th overall appearance in program history. The Sooners, who will be making their first appearance under head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton, are 10-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma made its first trip to the NCAAs in 1987 and has advanced to the Sweet 16 three times (1988, 2006, 2010).

AGAINST THE FIELD
The Sooners and Owls have faced off six times, with the last meeting coming in 2009. OU leads the all-time series, 4-2, and swept Rice in Houston in 2009.

Oklahoma has faced St. John's just once back in 1998, with the Sooners earning a 3-1 win in Winston Salem, N.C. The Sooners and Aggies are no strangers to each other as the former conference foes have met 46 times with the Aggies leading the all-time series 38-8. The two teams met in College Station on Sept. 17 with A&M prevailing in five sets.

BIG 12 HONORS
For the second-straight season, junior libero Keyton Kinley was named the Big 12 Libero of the Year. Kinley's honor marks the third time a Sooner has received the award.

A native of Lexington, Ky., Kinley led the Big 12 with 495 digs and 4.95 digs per set this season. In conference play, she totaled a league-best 288 digs and 4.72 digs per set. Additionally, she anchored the Sooner defense that held its opponents to a .177 hitting percentage in 2019, ranking third in the conference.

Kinley had double-digit digs in 24 of 26 matches this season, including 12 showings with at least 20 digs. She is the first Sooner to earn the conference's Libero of the Year twice and joins Anna Monsen (2006) as the only Sooners to earn the honor.

Four other Sooners were named to the All-Big 12 teams as Ashlynn Dunbar, Kylee McLaughlin and Sarah Sanders were named to the first team. Paige Anderson earned second team honors for the second consecutive season.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners ended the season with a 3-1 victory at TCU on Nov. 27 to finish in third place in the Big 12.

After dropping the first set, 26-24, the Sooners rallied back to win the match 24-26, 25-23, 25-17, 36-34.
The Sooners clinched the match in a wild fourth set that saw 17 ties and 11 lead changes and eight set points. OU trailed 24-22 but came back and played another 24 points to earn the 36-34 victory.

OU swung .279 in the match with 60 kills. Ashlynn Dunbar recorded a career-high 26 kills, while Paige Anderson swung .526 with 12 kills.

DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS
The Sooners finished the regular season ranking in the top five among Big 12 teams in five defensive categories: digs (1739), digs per set (16.10), total blocks (264), blocks per set (2.45) and opponent hitting percentage (.176).

The Sooners are first in total digs, amassing 1739. OU also leads the league in digs per set with a 16.10 average. OU leads the league in total blocks with 264, while the Sooners are fourth in blocks per set with 2.45.

Oklahoma has held its opponents to a .176 hitting percentage to rank second among Big 12 schools. OU is 14-2 when holding opponents to .100-.199 hitting and 2-0 when keeping them to .000-.099.

Individually, Keyton Kinley leads all Big 12 players in digs (495) and digs per set (4.95). Kinley has three 30+ digs performances this season, with her 32 against Oregon State the second-most by a Big 12 player this year. Brianna Kadiku is first in total blocks (134) and second in blocks per set (1.38).

CONFERENCE STANDINGS
The Sooners finished in third in the Big 12 standings after being picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll. This marks the second-straight season that OU will finish in the top three of the final Big 12 standings.

Since the inception of the Big 12, the Sooners have finished in the top five of the league 11 times. OU's 11 conference wins this season are the most since 10 in 2014.

QUICK HITS

The Sooners finished the regular season in third place in the Big 12 with an 11-5 record against the league.
OU is making it's first NCAA appearance since 2014.
OU earned the 800th program win as it defeated Kansas 3-1 in Norman on Oct. 5.
Oklahoma dropped just two matches at home, compiling a 10-2 record inside McCasland Field House in 2019.

SCOUTING REPORT

RICE
The Owls are ranked No. 21 in the latest AVCA poll after compiling a 26-3 record in the regular season. Rice's three losses all came in five sets, as they posted losses to Western Kentucky (twice) and Stephen F. Austin, both of which made the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The Owls posted a major upset of No. 3 Texas in September, taking down the Longhorns, 3-2, in Houston. Rice is coming off a 3-2 loss to Western Kentucky in the C-USA Tournament.

UP NEXT

With a win in the first round, the Sooners will face the winner of the Texas A&M/St. John's matchup on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.

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