Sooners to Face Kansas State in Manhattan

NORMAN – The Sooners visit the Little Apple for a mid-week match at 6:30 p.m. CT Wednesday against Kansas State in Manhattan. The match will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and live stats will be available through Kansas State's SIDEARM Stats page.

"The next road test is a sign of maturity on how our team wants this season to finish. The Big 12 is ranked the No. 1 RPI conference overall, and a lot of opportunity lies ahead," head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton said.

OU leads the overall series with the Wildcats 58-37-1, while tied 20-20 on the road. Last month, the Sooners fell in a five-set marathon to the Wildcats 3-2 at home. OU is looking for its first sweep and win in Manhattan against Kansas State since Nov. 20, 2019. Under Gray-Walton, OU has a 5-4 record against Kansas State.

"The focus will remain on our competitive effort, creating high trust and functioning environments for our team to have fun and have success," noted Gray-Walton. "We are at our best when playing free and fearless and that's the goal against Kansas State."

BIG 12 STORYLINES

CROWD CONTROL

The Sooners set a program attendance record of 3,702 fans inside McCasland Field House last Saturday during their loss against No. 1 Texas for the Red River Rivalry.
OU smashed its previous attendance record of 3,162 fans, which took place about 20 years ago on Oct. 17, 2003 vs. Texas A&M. It also marked only the second time in program history that the Sooners hit 3,000+ fans in a single match.

WRECKED 'EM

At the time, OU posted three-straight conference matches after defeating Texas Tech, 3-2, last Wednesday inside McCasland. The victory marked the Sooners' best Big 12 win streak since the conclusion of the 2019 regular season.
OU leads the overall series with Texas Tech 43-39, including a 24-14 record at home. Under head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton, OU has a 6-4 record against Texas Tech.
A trio of Sooners earned double-doubles during their victory against the Red Raiders. Freshman Taylor Preston led the way with a career-high 23 kills and 15 digs, while sophomore Megan Wilson posted her first 20+ kills performance this season with 20 kills and added 15 digs. Sophomore Payton Chamberlain paced the offense with her second 50+ assists (54) performance for 2022 and picked up her third double-double on the season and sixth overall with 14 digs.
Defensively, the Sooners tallied 87 digs with sophomore libero and last week's Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, Callie Kemohah, earning a season-high 26 digs. Freshmen Morgan Perkins and Alexis Shelton led the team in blocks with five and four (career-high), respectively.

SIGNING DAY

Oklahoma volleyball head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton announced the addition of three student-athletes during the 2022-23 early signing period. The tremendous trio joining the Sooners for the 2023 season are Mele Corral-Blagojevich, Emma Henry and Hannah Pfiffner.
The three-member class currently ranks No. 18 in PrepVolleyball.com's 2023 class rankings. The class is the fourth top-50 recruiting class since 2018 and third consecutive top-20 recruiting class overall. Individually, Corral-Blagojevich is currently ranked No. 27 and Pfiffner is No. 77.

BATTLING IN THE BIG 12

As a team this season, OU is third with 133 service aces and 1.43 service aces per set, while also fourth in hitting percentage (.249) and blocks per set (2.46).
Multiple Sooners hold top-10 rankings in the current conference standings for all of the major statistical categories. Wilson leads the Big 12 in service aces per set (0.57) and total service aces (51). She also ranks second in the league with 4.57 points per set and 411.5 points, while sixth in the league with 3.61 kills per set.
Kemohah, sophomore libero, tops the conference in digs per set (4.65) and is second with 432 total digs.
Perkins is the top freshman in blocks per set (1.18), hitting percentage (.401) and total blocks (104). She is third in hitting percentage and fourth in blocks per set. Chamberlain ranks fourth with 9.64 assists per set.
In conference matches only, Wilson moves back to the top within the Big 12 with 0.47 service aces per set and 23 total service aces. She's also third with 204.5 total points, fifth in points per set (4.17) and sixth with 3.39 kills per set.
Perkins sits in second with a .400 hitting percentage, while Kemohah is second with 212 total digs and fourth in digs per set (4.16). In conference play only, Chamberlain is fourth with 476 total assists and sixth in assists per set (9.33).

SETTING THE RECORD BOOK STRAIGHT

The 2022 team has already etched their name 10 times in the record books.
As a team, the Sooners set program records for aces (11) and block assists (30) in a four-set match, along with 28 block assists in a three-set match.
Wilson's five aces in a three-set match is tied for the most in program history, while sitting in second for aces in a single season with 51. She's only three aces away from tying the program record held by Kierra Hoist from the 2014 season. This is also Wilson's fourth mark in the record book after posting 392 kills and 20 solo blocks during the 2021 season, putting her seventh and tied for fifth, respectively.
Perkins has already made her mark in the record book after setting a program record for 11 block assists in a three-set match against Texas Southern (Sept. 16). Currently, she is also second in hitting percentage for a single season with .401 and has moved into the top 10 in block assists with 94 (10th).
Kemohah posted a career-best 25 aces per season, moving in a tie for seventh. She also moved into the top 10 with 432 digs per season, just four off from tying her career-best in a single season (436 digs in 2021). This is also Kemohah's fourth mark in the record book after posting 436 digs and 23 aces during the 2021 season, sitting in ninth and 10th, respectively.

SEEING DOUBLE

Five Sooners have notched 10 double-doubles for the Sooners during the 2022 season with two doing it three times this season.
Preston posted the first career double-double for the Sooners this season after 11 kills and 10 digs against Ball State at the LUV Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee on Sept. 2. The following weekend, she notched her second double-double of the season with 19 kills and 11 digs at the Santa Clara Invitational against Fresno State in California on Sept. 11. She earned her third career double-double with a career-high 23 kills and 15 digs against Texas Tech last Wednesday.
Perkins posted her first career double-double with 11 blocks and 10 kills against Texas Southern on Sept. 16 to close out the non-conference slate.
Graduate student Savannah Davison and Chamberlain both recorded double-doubles the fifth and sixth Sooner double-doubles on the season against Kansas State on Oct. 19. Davison posted her first of the year with season-highs in both kills (17) and digs (10), while Chamberlain earned her fifth career double-double with season-highs in assists (44) and digs (19). Chamberlain added her third double-double on the season with a season-high 54 assists and 14 digs against Texas Tech last Wednesday.
Wilson earned her first career double-double this season at Kansas with 16 kills and a career-high 16 digs on Oct. 30. She's one of three sooners to notch more than one double-double this season after her first 20+ kills performance on the season with 20 kills and 15 digs against Texas Tech last Wednesday.

ACE QUEEN

Wilson has come out swinging in her sophomore campaign and ranks ninth in aces per set (0.56) and 13th with 51 total service aces nationally. She is the only Big 12 player in the top 60 in both categories.
She leads the Big 12 in service aces per set (0.57) and total service aces (51), while also moving back to the top in conference matches only within the Big 12 with 0.47 service aces per set and 23 total service aces.
The sophomore's five aces in a three-set match is tied for the most in program history with Julia Doyle, who posted the same mark against Kansas State on Sept. 19, 2012. She's currently second for aces in a single season with 51, which is only three aces away from tying the program record held by Hoist's 2014 season.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: KANSAS STATE

The Wildcats are one of seven Big 12 schools ranked in the top 100 of the NCAA Women's Volleyball RPI rankings at No. 68. Kansas State is riding a two-game winning streak and enters Wednesday's match 14-11 overall with a 5-7 mark in conference play.
On Nov. 4, Kansas State pulled out a 3-1 road upset over No. 25 Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. Wildcat senior Sydney Bolding had a career-high 14 kills at a .414 clip while senior Elena Baka earned her eighth double-double of the season with 13 kills and digs on the night.
Wildcat head coach Suzie Fritz earned her 200th career victory in Big 12 matches last Thursday at West Virginia. She's currently fourth in the conference record books for that feat.
The Wildcats squad leads the conference with 161 total service aces and 1.71 service aces per set, while also second in digs per set (13.96) and 407 block assists. The team is also third in total digs (1,312) and blocks per set (2.52).
Three Kansas State players sit in the top five of two major statistical categories. Bolding is second in blocks per set (1.24) and block assists (108), while third in total service aces (37), service aces per set (0.41), total blocks (113). Junior libero Mackenzie Morris is third in total digs (418) and fourth in digs per set (4.45), while senior Loren Hinkle is fifth with 9.56 assists per set.

QUICK HITTERS

OU's 10-2 non-conference record marks their best non-conference start since 2013, along with the Gray-Walton era.
The Sooners are 192-295 all-time in Big 12 play and 11-16 all-time in conference openers. Under Gray-Walton, OU is 31-37 in Big 12 play and 2-3 in league openers.
Eight of OU's regular season opponents earned berths in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, including seven conference foes - No. 1 Texas, No. 15 Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and West Virginia. The Longhorns reached the Elite Eight while the Jayhawks and Bears each advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
OU will host every Big 12 team (eight) at home in 2022, including its regular season and Senior Night against TCU next Saturday, Nov. 26.

NEXT SERVE

The Sooners conclude the regular season next week at Iowa State 6:30 p.m. CT next Wednesday, Nov. 23, before hosting TCU at 6 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 26, for their regular season finale and Senior Night.

FOLLOW THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS

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

Sooners to Face Kansas State in Manhattan