Volleyball Opens Spring Slate at Texas

NORMAN – The Oklahoma volleyball team returns to action this weekend to kick off a slate of nine spring matches, eight of which will be against conference opponents.
The Sooners will travel down to Austin, Texas, to face No. 2 Texas on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27. The matches will be considered non-conference matches and will only be added to the team's overall records.

WEEKEND STORYLINES

SPRING SCHEDULE
On Tuesday, the Sooners announced their nine-game spring slate. Seven of the Sooners' nine spring matches will take place on the road. The Sooners will travel to Denton, Texas, to face North Texas on Thursday, March 4, at 5 p.m. in the lone non-conference match of the season. OU will travel down to Waco, Texas, to face No. 6 Baylor on Sunday, March 7 and Monday, March 8. After a weekend off, the Sooners will face Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. The two teams will play Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20. The final matches of the spring slate will take place inside McCasland Field House. OU will host TCU on Friday, March 26 and Friday, March 27. Both matches are slated for 5 p.m. starts.

FALL RECAP
The Sooners played a conference only slate in the fall and finished with a 3-9 record. OU played 12 of their 16 conference matches with the matches against TCU and Iowa State postponed to the spring season. The Sooners swept the series with Kansas at home and split their series with West Virginia. Freshman Guewe Diouf led the way for the Sooners in the fall with 202 kills and a 4.39 kills/set mark. Sophomore Sanaa Dotson added 118 kills for the Sooners to rank second on the team. Sophomore Grace Talpash notched 240 assists, while Sam Anthony added 95 and Olivia Curtis notched 78. Curtis also led the way with 12 service aces. Defensively, senior Keyton Kinley notched 189 digs to lead the team. Diouf was just behind her with 90 digs on the year. Freshman Tyler Alcorn led the team with 49 blocks, followed by 42 from senior Sarah Sanders.

SIGNING DAY
On Nov. 11, the Sooners signed an impressive squad of five athletes during the early signing period. Kristen Birmingham, Callie Cogdill, Peyton Dunn, Callie Kemohah and Megan Wilson will all join the Sooners in 2021.

A 6-1 outside hitter out of Kansas City, Mo., Birmingham is a four-year letterwinner at Park Hill High School. She has notched 745 kills, 120 blocks, 458 digs and 28 aces in her high school career. She was named to the Under Armour All-American Third Team. A native of Cypress, Texas, Cogdill is a four-year letterwinner at Cypress Woods High School. In her career, she has tallied 1,200 digs, including 568 in her junior season. Cogdill has added 640 assists and 75 aces to her career numbers. Cogdill has already joined the Sooners in the gym as an early enrollee this January.

A 5-11 setter, Dunn is a three-year letter winner out of Legend High School. Her freshman season, she played in the final four of the state tournament, followed by an elite eight appearance as a sophomore. As a senior, she was named to the Under Armour All-American Third Team. As a junior, Dunn tallied 1,407 assists, 416 digs, 300 kills and 106 aces in her high school career. Kemohah is a 5-6 libero out of Lucas, Texas where she is a four-year letterwinner at Lovejoy High School. As a senior, she was named to the Under Armour All-American Third Team. In her career, she has tallied 1,519 digs, 255 assists and 97 aces. Wilson is a 6-4 middle blocker/outside hitter out of Kingwood High School in Kingwood, Texas. Recently, she was named to the Under Armour All-American Third Team. In two seasons, she has notched 438 kills, 103 blocks, 127 digs and 41 aces. She was a district champion as a junior.

SCOUTING TEXAS

Texas (14-0) won the Big 12 Conference Championship in the fall to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Big 12 Championship is the 13th overall for the Longhorns, who have won or shared nine of the last 10 league championships and 12 of the previous 14. Brionne Butler leads the league with a .422 hitting percentage, while Logan Eggleston ranks second amongst Big 12 players with 231 total kills. Butler also leads the league with 74 total kills.

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