Home Slate Begins with the Nike Invite

NORMAN – After spending the first two weeks of the season on the road, the Oklahoma volleyball team is home to host the Nike Invitational this weekend as it welcomes Arizona State, Louisiana and Georgia Tech to McCasland Field House.

The Sooners will open the tournament Friday at 7:30 p.m. with Arizona State before Saturday contests with Louisiana at 11 a.m. and Georgia Tech at 7 p.m.

WEEKEND INFO

Live stats will be available for all matches of the tournament. T-shirt jerseys will be available to the first 150 fans at Friday night's contest with Arizona State. Coffee and donuts will be provided to the first 100 fans at Saturday's matchup with Louisiana at 11 a.m.

GAMEDAY STORYLINES

LAST TIME OUT

OU went 3-0 at the Hoosier Classic hosted by the University of Indiana in its last outing. The weekend warriors came out on top of three five-set matches in 48 hours as they defeated Oregon State, Yale and the host Hoosiers to sweep the tournament.

The Sooners battled back from a two-set deficit against Oregon State to win 22-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 18-16.

OU staved off a late rally from Yale to take out the defending Ivy League champions 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-8.

Oklahoma concluded the weekend with a 25-22, 23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 15-12 win over Indiana to hand the Hoosiers their second loss of the season.

Junior setter Kylee McLaughlin was named the tournament MVP while outside hitter Sarah Sanders was an all-tournament honoree.

CAREER HIGHS ALL AROUND

Four Sooners set new career highs in OU's last weekend of competition.

Against Oregon State, Sarah Sanders set a new career-high in kills with 20 to shatter her previous record of 13 that she achieved three times last season.

The junior swung .400 in the match, committing just two errors in 45 attempts and added four blocks. Sanders went on to record two more double-digit kills performances against Yale (18) and Indiana (12).
Sarah Maras notched a career-best 18 kills against Yale. Her previous high was 11, set last season at Northern Illinois.

Against Yale, Aysia Harty took over as libero and tallied 18 digs to surpass her previous mark of 12 recorded against Texas A&M last season.

Freshman Olivia Curtis had a career-best 20 digs in the Yale contest, more than tripling her previous high of six against Cal in the Sooners' season opener. The newcomer also added seven kills, two blocks and an ace on the day.

Junior transfer Paige Johnson fired off three aces in the Yale match to tie her career-high last season at Arkansas against Missouri State. Johnson added 10 digs for her double-digit defensive performance as a Sooner.

MCDOUBLE

Setter Kylee McLaughlin has posted a double-double in four of OU's six contests this year, including back-to-back-to-back double-doubles at the Hoosier Classic.

McLaughlin posted 43 assists and 17 digs against Oregon State; 47 assists and 11 digs against Yale; and 51 assists and 19 digs against Indiana. A dual-threat, McLaughlin also four kills on five attempts in OU's win over the Hoosiers.

THE SARAH SHOW

OU's outside hitters named Sarah had quite the showing in Indiana, with either Sarah Sanders or Sarah Maras leading the team in kills in each outing. Sanders had a career-high 20 kills against Oregon State on a .400 clip.

Maras had a double-double against Yale, blasting a personal-best and team-high 18 kills to go with 10 digs. The showing marked her second career double-double and first this season. Additionally, Maras had the match-winning kill in back-to-back five-set contests Sep. 6 against Yale and Indiana. The junior had a team-high 17 kills against Indiana after setting her career-high 18 earlier in the day.

Combined, the duo accounted for 87 kills, 26 digs, 17 blocks across OU's three matches at the Hoosier Classic.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Through two weeks of the season, OU's defense leads the Big 12 conference in both digs (242) and digs per set (16.13). The 2018 Big 12 Libero of the Year Keyton Kinley is the current conference leader in digs with 62 to her name. She also leads the league in digs per set with 6.2. Kinley ranks 16^th nationally in digs per set.

FULL CIRCLE

Oklahoma head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton will coach against her alma mater Saturday night as the Sooners face Georgia Tech. An outside hitter for the Yellow Jackets from 2003-2007, Gray-Walton was an All-ACC selection. The Yellow Jackets won 20 or more matches three times in her career, and posted a 27-7 overall mark on a perfect 16-0 season in ACC play her freshman year.

SCOUTING REPORT

ARIZONA STATE

Arizona State owns a 4-2 mark entering the Nike Invitational. The Sun Devils went 1-2 at the Fleur de Lis tournament in Louisville last weekend, sweeping Tennessee Tech and falling to Western Kentucky and No. 24 Louisville.

Senior libero Courtney Leffel was named to the Fleur De Lis All-Tournament Team after tallying double-digit digs in each match, improving her streak to 11 matches in a row.

OU will face a familiar foe in outside hitter Jada Burse, who spent the first three seasons of her career at Kansas. At KU, Burse was a two-time All-Big 12 selection.

Friday's contest will mark the first meeting between OU and the Sundevils.

LOUISIANA

The Ragin' Cajuns are 3-3 on the year. In its last outing, Louisiana swept the competition at the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic as it defeated McNeese (3-2), Eastern Michigan (3-0) and Florida A&M (3-1).
Outside hitter Celeste Darling was named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Week for her performance at the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic, averaging 3.42 kills per set on a .404 hitting percentage. The performance earned her tournament MVP honors. Darling totaled 41 kills over the three-match event, setting her collegiate-high in kills twice, and registered a .300-plus percentage in each match while attempting at least 25 swings each time.

The all-time series between the Sooners and Louisiana is tied at one match apiece. OU swept the Ragin' Cajuns in the inaugural meeting in Beaumont, Texas, in 2000, but Louisiana won the most recent meeting between the teams in 2001 3-1 in Huntsville, Texas.

GEORGIA TECH

The Yellow Jackets enter the tournament at 5-1 on the year. Their sole loss came against Auburn 3-1 on the road. In its last competition, Georgia Tech tallied back-to-back wins over Lipscomb (3-1) and IUPUI (3-0) to sweep the Hyatt Regency Invitational and maintain a 5-0 record at home. With its defeat of Lipscomb, Georgia Tech earned is 700^th program victory.

OU has met Georgia Tech just once. The Yellow Jackets prevailed 3-0 in that 2014 meeting in Dallas.

UP NEXT

The Sooners will head to College Station, Texas, for a meeting with Texas A&M on Sept. 17 before returning to McCasland Field House Sept. 21 to host SMU in the final non-conference matchup of the season.

For updates, follow @OU_Volleyball on Twitter or like Oklahoma Volleyball on Facebook.

Home Slate Begins with the Nike Invite

WEEKEND INFO