Sooners Host Mountaineers Sunday on ESPNU

3 Oklahoma

West Virginia

Sunday, Jan.31 / 6:45 p.m. CT / Norman, Okla. / Lloyd Noble Center

ESPNU / Live Stats / Meet Notes / Tickets

NORMAN – The No. 3 Oklahoma women's gymnastics is back at home for the third time in the month of January to take on Big 12 rival West Virginia inside Lloyd Noble Center. The meet is slated for a 7 p.m. start on ESPNU. Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson-Clarke will be on the call. This is the second of back-to-back meets against the Mountaineers for the Sooners. The two teams faced each other in Morgantown, W.Va., on Jan. 22 with the Sooners ending up victorious.

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR MEET FOUR

LOOK BACK AT IT
The Sooners topped conference rival West Virginia, 196.100-194.900, Friday, Jan. 22 inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va. Senior Evy Schoepfer took home the vault title with a 9.925 while freshman Audrey Davis earned the title on bars with a 9.9. Senior Anastasia Webb earned three event titles, sharing beam and floor with sophomore Ragan Smith as they tallied 9.925s on each event. Webb also took home the all-around title with a 39.575. Two more Sooner freshman made their collegiate debuts in the meet as Quinn Smith was inserted in the vault lineup and Norman native Bell Johnson made her debut on floor. In total, five members of the freshman class have seen action in at least one meet this season.

TOP-THREE TEAM
The Sooners are ranked No. 3 team in the nation with a 196.858 average after the first three weeks of competition. Florida remained at No. 1 with a 197.392 average. LSU moved up to No. 2 (197.008) while Utah moved up two spots to No. 4 (196.842). Big 12 rival Denver jumped into the top five with a 196.800 average. OU holds the No. 2 spot on bars (49.367), the No. 3 spot on vault (49.267), the No. 7 spot on beam (49.083) and ranks 11th on floor (49.142).

KINDLER VS. THE BIG 12
In 15 seasons, Kindler is 79-3 against current and former members of the Big 12 (not including regionals and NCAA Championships). Against current members of league (Denver, Iowa State, West Virginia), Kindler is undefeated in the regular season with a 40-0 record. At the Big 12 Championship, she is undefeated against current members
with a 13-0 record against Iowa State, 7-0 record against West Virginia and 4-0 over Denver.

HOME SWEET HOME
OU is 110-4 inside Lloyd Noble Center since the arrival of head coach K.J. Kindler in 2007. The Sooners have posted 34 consecutive home victories dating back to 2014 and the 2021 senior class has never lost a home meet in their career. OU will be home for five meets in 2021, hosting Arizona State, Utah, West Virginia, Denver, Lindenwood,
TWU and BYU.

SEEING DOUBLE
Due to the Big 10 and SEC choosing to compete within conference only, the Sooners will see a handful of teams multiple times in 2021. OU and West Virginia will go back-to-back, competing against each other on Jan. 22 in Morgantown and Jan. 31 in Norman. The two teams will meet for a third time at the Big 12 Championships in late March.
The Sooners will face the Pioneers of Denver three times as well. OU will travel to Denver on Feb. 7 with the Pioneers making the return trip on Feb. 26. OU and Iowa State will compete at the Metroplex Challenge on Feb. 13. The Sooners will travel to Ames on March 14 for the final home meet of the regular season. OU and TWU will also do a home-and-home with TWU coming to Norman on Feb. 26 and the Sooners traveling to Denton, Texas, on March 7.

WEBB HONORED BY THE BIG 12
For the third time this season, senior Anastasia Webb has been named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. The honor is the 13th total of Webb's career and her sixth Gymnast of the Week honor. Webb is now just the seventh gymnast in Big 12 history to earn at least three straight gymnast of the week recognitions. Webb secured three event titles in Oklahoma's win over West Virginia last week earning the all-around, beam and floor titles. The senior took home her 10th all-around event title with a 39.575. Webb was clutch on beam and floor after the Sooners were forced to count a fall in each rotation. The senior stepped up with matching scores of 9.925 on each event to end the rotations on a high note. Webb now has 12 career titles on beam and 10 on floor. Her 42 career event titles rank eighth all-time in OU history. In addition to her event titles, Webb added a 9.850 on vault and a 9.875 on bars to help the Sooners to the win.

STEPPING UP
With injuries to key athletes, multiple Sooners have been stepping up in the first three weeks of the season to help lead the team to victories. In the first meet, Carly Woodard made her first ever appearance in a lineup other than beam when she competed floor. Evy Schoepfer appeared in the beam lineup against Utah to replace an injured Woodard.
Audrey Davis and Katherine LeVasseur (both freshman) have been strong to start their first collegiate seasons, as they have combined to take home the event title on bars in every meet thus far. Davis has appeared in three events for the Sooners while LeVasseur has appeared in two and could appear in the all-around at some point this season. Freshmen Bell Johnson and Quinn Smith both made their collegiate debuts at West Virginia. The duo brings the total number of freshmen who have competed this season to five, joining Davis, LeVasseur and Audrey Lynn.

QUICK HITS

OU was ranked No. 2 in the WCGA preseason coaches poll, the seventh-straight season the Sooners have been ranked in the top two to begin the year.
Head coach K.J. Kindler is just seven victories away from reaching her 400th win as the head coach of the Sooners. Kindler is also 13 wins away from tallying her 500th win as a head coach as she spent six seasons as the head coach at Iowa State.
Oklahoma's roster this season features 12 returning gymnasts from the 2020 squad including three who combined for seven All-America honors in senior Anastasia Webb, junior Allie Stern and sophomore Ragan Smith.
The Sooners will be featured on ESPN networks twice during the regular season: vs. Utah (Jan. 17) and vs. West Virginia (Jan. 31).

SCOUTING REPORT

The Mountaineers are a familiar face as the two teams competed against each other on Jan. 22. West Virginia had strong performances from Emily Holmes-Hacker, Kianna Yancy and Kendra Combs. The Mountaineers took two event titles from the meet, winning team beam (48.825) and floor (48.900).

TICKETS

To purchase tickets, click here or contact the OU Athletics Ticket Office by phone at (800) 456-4668.

MEET DAY POLICIES

Appropriate cloth or surgical-style masks that cover the nose and mouth completely will be required at all times while on campus and inside Lloyd Noble Center. Other face coverings including clear face shields, gaiters/buffs, bandanas or masks with valves are not permitted. OU will continue its clear-bag policy this season. The approved clear plastic tote size is a maximum of 12 inches x 6 inches x 12 inches or a one-gallon clear plastic freezer bag. Even those bags are subject to search.

Arena doors will open to the public one (1) hour prior to tip off. The general public can utilize the north and east entrances. Full details on OU's game day policies at Lloyd Noble Center can be found here.

UP NEXT

The Sooners will start a three-meet road swing with another conference matchup. OU will travel to Denver on Feb. 7 for a tri-meet against the Pioneers and Temple.