Sooners Head to Music City for LUV Invitational

Oklahoma

Ball State

Mississippi State

Lipscomb

LUV Invitational / Sept. 2-3 / Allen Arena / Nashville, Tenn.
Live Stats / Watch Lipscomb Match Live / Match Notes

NORMAN — The Oklahoma volleyball team head to Nashville, Tennessee, for its first road trip of the regular season at the LUV Invitational Sept. 2-3.

"So, this upcoming weekend, I think what we have on tap is three NCAA Tournament teams," head coach Lindsey-Gray Walton said. "These teams are going to expect to win a lot of games, if not their own conference tournaments and vying to be in the NCAA Tournament."

OU opens the tournament against 2021 NCAA Tournament participant Ball State on Friday at 2 p.m. The Sooners will face SEC foe Mississippi State at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by host Lipscomb at 7 p.m.

"You don't want to be peaking as a team, but we have to be pretty crisp, and we need to see that the task at hand this weekend has a big payoff if we take care of business," Gray-Walton noted.

Live stats will be available through Lipscomb Athletics' StatBroadcast page for all matches of the tournament. A live stream will not be available for either neutral site matches, but Saturday night's match against Lipscomb will be streamed on ESPN+.

"We're on the road, so we have to have a road warrior mentality," Gray-Walton said. "We have to learn to win on the road too because when you play in December those matches are on the road. So, this all is good for a later date, but we have to take care of Friday against Ball State at 2 p.m."

WEEKEND STORYLINES

WILSON'S WINNING WAYS

Sophomore Megan Wilson opened the season as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week after a strong opening weekend where she tallied the most kills in the conference with 50 (averaging 5.0 per set) and total points (58), averaging 5.8 per set, which ranks second in the Big 12. She also added three service aces against Iowa, which matched a career high.
This marked the fifth weekly award for Wilson and second for offensive. She is the first Sooner to be honored for a weekly conference award during opening weekend since Guewe Diouf earned Rookie Player of the Week on Sept. 29, 2020. The last time a Sooner won offensive honors during the first week of the season was Kimmy Gardiner on Aug. 29, 2016.
Wilson also earned All-Tournament Team recognition and was the most valuable player for the OU Invitational last weekend.

HISTORIC START

The Sooners went 3-0 on opening weekend for the OU Invitational inside McCasland Field House. This marked the program's best start since the beginning of the Gray-Walton Era in 2018.
OU opened the season with a dominating three-set win against Gonzaga, 25-18, 25-19, 25-19. Graduate student and veteran Savannah Davison led the Sooners with 16 kills and hitting a .419. Wilson tallied 14 kills, while transfer middle blocker Adria Oliver made her debut recording four blocks and nine kills. Libero Callie Kemohah added 16 digs, six assists, and one service ace.
Match two of the weekend saw the Sooners win a thrilling three-set match against Iowa, 25-18, 25-21, 25-22. OU earned their first win against the Hawkeyes in 45 years and its 29th victory over Big Ten foes. Wilson led the Sooners with 19 kills. Sophomore Peyton Dunn posted 36 assists and four blocks, and also matched a career-best seven digs.
Against FlU, the Sooners rallied to pull off a four-set win to defeat the Panthers, 25-27, 25-18, 25-18, 25-17. Wilson once again led the match with 17 kills and added four digs, three blocks and a service ace. Freshman Taylor Preston made her debut and tallied 12 kills and a .407 hitting percentage.
Sophomore duo Wilson and Dunn earned All-Tournament recognition, while Wilson was named the most valuable player at the OU Invitational. Wilson racked up 50 kills and posted 10 digs and five service aces, while Dunn dished out 117 assists and 36 digs on the weekend.

YOUNG AND HUNGRY

The underclassmen on the 2022 team have been called on to make an immediate impact and have done just that. Out of 12 Sooners that played opening weekend, eight are underclassmen, including five freshmen.
Wilson has controlled the offense for the Sooners, leading the conference with 50 kills and a 5.0 kills/set mark. She also leads the team with five service aces and had a career-high (three) against Iowa last Saturday.
A do-it-all athlete, setter Dunn ranks first on the team in assists (117), second in digs (36) and third in service aces (three). The Libero of the team, Kemohah, leads the top two spots in the conference with the most digs played in three sets (19 vs. Gonzaga and 18. vs. Iowa). Kemohah also ranks second in the conference in digs, averaging 5.1 digs/set and tops the conference in total digs with 51.
Freshman Morgan Perkins is already making an impact defensively, leading the Sooners with 10 blocks in the weekend opener. Offensively, she added 17 kills with a .351 hitting percentage. Preston closed out the win for the Sooners against FIU in her debut, which included 12 kills and a .407 hitting percentage.

QUICK HITTERS

OU's 3-0 start to the season was the program's best since the beginning of the Gray-Walton Era in 2018. The Sooners earned their first home victory against Big 10 foe Iowa last Friday in a 3-0 sweep.
The Sooners will be playing 2021 NCAA Tournament participant Ball State for the first time in program history. OU currently leads the overall series against SEC foe Mississippi State, 2-1, winning the first two meetings in 1991 and 2016, respectively. OU and Lipscomb have met twice with the Sooners earning a 3-1 victory in 2003. The overall series between the Sooners and Bison are tied 1-1.
Eight of OU's regular season opponents earned berths in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, including Ball State and seven conference foes - No. 1 Texas, No. 9 Baylor, No. 20 Kansas Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech and West Virginia. The Longhorns reached the Elite Eight while the Jayhawks and Bears each advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, respectively.
After their home opener, the Sooners hit the road for seven of their next nine matches. OU will face eight opponents on the road in the month of September, hosting only three matches, including its conference home opener against Kansas.

SCOUTING BALL STATE

Ball State is led by head coach Kelli Miller Phillips who's entering her seventh season with the Cardinals.
The team consists of four freshmen, two sophomores, five juniors, eight seniors.
Ball State returns opposite hitter Natalie Mitchemm, who was second in kills for the Cardinals last season, registering 360. Sophomore setter Megan Wielonski tallied the most assists in 2021 with 1,394, while senior defensive specialist/libero Maggie Huber lead the squad last season in digs with 375.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE

Head coach Julie Darty Dennis enters her fifth season with the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs roster consists of four freshmen, three sophomores, four juniors, six seniors, and two graduate students. The Bulldogs garnered two transfers in Tracy Jeffcoat from Troy and Emily Oerther from Penn State.
Senior Gabby Waden led the team in kills last season with 419. Lilly Gunter led the Bulldogs defense efforts last season and recorded 480 digs. At the setter position, Gabby Coulter returns after notching 645 assists last season.
The Bulldogs won in three sets against Notre Dame last weekend with a team hitting percentage of .339. Waden led the offense with 16 kills and four blocks. Sophomore Sania Petties also finished the match with 13 kills and four blocks.

SCOUTING LIPSCOMB

Bisons head coach Brandon Rosenthal enters his 20th year as head coach this season. Last season, Rosenthal garnered a 14-13 record, including an 11-5 mark in conference play.
The team has four freshmen, four sophomores, five juniors, 1 senior, and two graduate students.
The Bisons collected a win against Tennessee State last weekend. Junior outside hitter Caroline Stogner matched her career high with 13 kills. Freshman setter Sophia Hudepohl recorded a career high 20 assists, six digs and six aces.
Lipscomb and OU face off for the third time overall, with the Bisons winning the last time out at the 2021 OU Invitational, 3-1. The overall series is tied 1-1.

NEXT SERVE

The Sooners will travel to the west coast for the Santa Clara Tournament. The Sooners will face host Santa Clara, Tulane and Fresno State, Sept. 9-11 in Santa Clara, California.

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Sooners Head to Music City for LUV Invitational