Sooners Welcome Big 12 Play to Norman

NORMAN – Big 12 volleyball action is in full swing, and the Oklahoma volleyball team return to McCasland Field House for a pair of conference matchups, including their home conference opener against Kansas at 6 p.m. CT Wednesday, followed by West Virginia at 1 p.m. Saturday.

OU is undefeated at home with a 5-0 record and looks to earn its first conference win on the season.

Wednesday's match against Kansas will be a Crimson Out theme where the first 250 fans will receive a Crimson Out volleyball shirt. The Sooners lead the overall series with the Jayhawks 54-41, along with 28-16 at home. OU split a pair of matches with Kansas last season and look for its home win against the Jayhawks since Oct. 17, 2020.

Saturday's match will serve as Greek Day where a $300 donation will be given to the Greek organization with the most attendees. Free OU Volleyball bucket hats will be available for fans while supplies last. OU leads the overall series with West Virginia 17-4, including 9-1 at home. The Mountaineers have been on a three-match winning streak with the Sooners with OU's last win against West Virginia on Nov. 19, 2020.

Live stats will be available through OU's StatBroadcast page and all OU matches will air on SoonerVision on ESPN+. For more information on how to watch, click here.

For fans in attendance, doors at McCasland Field House open an hour before each match. Parking is available in the Field House lot on the east side of McCasland Field House or the Duck Pond lot on the corner of West Brooks Street and South Jenkins Avenue.

OU Athletics' clear bag policy will be in effect and walk-through metal detectors will be utilized. More information can be found here.

Season and single-match tickets are now on sale for the 2022 season. Fans can purchase online through SoonerSports.com or by calling the OU ticket office at (405) 325-2424. Adults are $7 and youth/senior tickets are $5.

BIG 12 STORYLINES

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST NO. 1

The Sooners opened Big 12 play on the road with the Red River Rivalry at top-ranked Texas, where OU was swept by the Longhorns 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-18).
Sophomore Megan Wilson led the offense with 11 kills and hit .333 with five digs, an ace and a block, while also accounting for 12.5 of OU's points.
Defensively, the Sooners led the Longhorns in blocks, 4-3. Freshman Morgan Perkins added a career-high two solo blocks, while sophomore Callie Kemohah put up 14 digs.

HOME SWEET HOME

With conference play underway, the Sooners will compete inside the friendly confines of McCasland Field House on a much more consistent basis.
OU spent most of the month of September away from Norman with eight of its 10 matches being played on the road, including a seven-match stretch.
The Sooners have only played five of 13 matches at home this season.
OU will host every Big 12 team (eight) inside McCasland Field House once for the remainder of the season.

NEW SOONERS ON THE BLOCK

Breakout stars and newcomers Perkins, Taylor Preston and Alexis Shelton have made an immediate impact on the Sooners, already making their mark on the national stage.
Freshmen Perkins (vs. Texas Southern) and Preston (vs. Ball State and Fresno State) are the only two sooners to post a double-double this season.
Nationally, both Preston and Shelton are ranked in the top 10 in kills per set for freshman in the Power Five at No. 7 and 10, respectively. Perkins is the top freshman in hitting percentage in a Power Five conference with .412, while defensively sitting in 25th nationally in blocks per set (1.39), while being the second-best freshman in the Power Five and fourth overall.
Preston ranks No. 10 in the conference in kills per set with 3.16 and sits in the top 10 with points per set (3.57). Perkins is also third in the Big 12 with 1.39 blocks per set and 61 total blocks.

SIX FOR THE RECORD BOOKS

The 2022 team has already etched their name six 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 digs in a three-set match against Tulane (Sept. 10) are tied for the most in program history, while currently tied for fifth in aces in a single season with 29. This 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, a newcomer, 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).

WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY

The Sooners defense has been solid in 2022 with six outings in the double digits, including a season-high 16 blocks against Fresno State on Sept. 11.
Within the Big 12, the Sooners are tied for second with No. 13 Baylor in blocks per set (2.77) and third with 223 block assists.
Perkins, a freshman, is ranked in the top three in the conference. Her 1.39 blocks per set and 61 total blocks are third in the conference. The first mark ranks her 25th nationally and is the second-best freshman in the Power Five and fourth overall.

BIG 12 WEEKLY AWARDS SWEEP-STAKES

For the first time in program history, Oklahoma volleyball swept the Big 12's weekly awards last Tuesday.
Wilson was named Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. She leads the Sooners and is third in the conference with 170 kills, as well as leading OU and the conference in aces per set (0.66) and total aces (29), while sitting in eighth and 11th nationally in both marks, respectively.

She also sits in second with 4.99 points per set and total points (219.5) in the Big 12, while sitting in 19th for the first mark nationally and eighth in the Power Five. Wilson moved tied for fifth in program history for total aces in a season.
Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 20) was awarded to Kemohah, marking her first this season and third of her career. The Lucas, Texas native currently leads the conference and the Power Five with 5.20 digs per set, which puts her 14th nationally. She also sits second in the Big 12 in total digs (234) and posted 4.67 digs over the weekend against No. 1 Texas, which put her also in second.
Perkins locked in her first weekly honor for Rookie of the Week on Sept. 20 after earning her first career double-double with career-highs in kills (10) and blocks (11) against Texas Southern on Sept. 16.
OU is the fifth Big 12 school to sweep all three awards and first since Sept. 23, 2019, where Baylor took home every honor. This also marks the seventh time in conference history that weekly conference awards were swept by a single school.
In addition, just six times has OU won multiple awards in the same week, and two of those came last season.

SCOUTING KANSAS

The Jayhawks are coming off a week where they split a pair of conference matches and currently sit 11-2 overall and tied for fourth in Big 12 play (1-1). The Jayhawks kicked off the season with a nine-match win streak before going 3-3 in their last six matches.
In its conference opener against No. 1 Texas last Wednesday, the Jayhawks pushed the Longhorns to its first five set thriller on the season, but eventually fell 3-2.
Kansas came back strong on Saturday to defeat in-state foe Kansas State in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, 3-2, where sophomore London Davis boasted a career-high 22 kills, hitting .647.
Redshirt freshman Ayah Elnady paces the Jayhawks with 138 kills, while Davis is ranked third in the Big 12 in hitting percentage with .429. Graduate transfer Lauren Dooley is close behind in fifth (.413) and super-senior Rachel Langs in sixth (.381). Both Dooley and Langs are ranked nationally in hitting percentage at 15th and 19th, respectively.
Dooley also leads the Jayhawk's defense with 36.5 total blocks, averaging .73 blocks per set.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA

The Mountaineers are coming off a conference opener loss where they fell in a five-set thriller to Texas Tech, 3-2. West Virginia sits 6-7 overall and is 1-1 in Big 12 play.
Before the loss, WVU swept the Mountaineer Invitational (Sept. 15-16) guided by freshman Bailey Miller who was named MVP of the tournament after tallying two double-doubles that weekend.
Kansas boasts Big 12 Preseason Team honoree and redshirt senior, Adrian Ell, who is seventh in the conference and leads the offensive attack for the Mountaineers in kills per set (3.29). Miller boasted 0.33 aces per set on the season for eighth in the conference. Kamiah Gibson has notched 7.04 assists per set for eighth in the league.
Over the weekend, the Mountaineers led the league in digs with 18.20 digs per set, tied for third with 12.40 kills per set and sat in fourth with 1.40 aces per set. Ell led the conference with 4.80 kills per set while Miller was close behind with 3.80 kills per set for fifth in the Big 12. On defense, junior libero Skye Stokes finished in seventh with 3.62 digs 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 282-354 all-time in Big 12 play and 184-276 all-time in Big 12 play and 11-16 all-time in conference openers. Under Gray-Walton, the Sooners are 23-26 in Big 12 play and 1-4 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. 13 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, respectively.
OU will host every Big 12 team (eight) at home in 2022, including its home opener against Kansas on Wednesday and concluding the regular season with Senior night against TCU on Nov. 26.

NEXT SERVE

The Sooners return to the Lone Star State to face No. 13 Baylor next Wednesday, Oct. 5. In its second primetime spot for conference play, the match will air on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. CT.

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