Sooners Set for Midweek at No. 21 Baylor

NORMAN – The Sooners will close out a three-game road swing Wednesday night in Waco, Texas, taking on No. 21 Baylor inside the Ferrell Center. The match is set for a 7 p.m. start time on ESPN+ with Kyle Youmans & Katie Smith on the call.

Wednesday's match is the lone game for the Sooners this week as they will have a bye week before taking on Houston at home.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners split a pair of games with Iowa State over the weekend. OU dropped the first match of the series in three sets before sweeping Iowa State in the second match of the weekend. In the second match, junior setter Payton Chamberlain reached a career milestone of 2,000 assists and finished the match with 38 to bring her career total to 2,035. Of those assists,1,554 have come during her two years as a Sooner.

The Sooners offense nearly doubled up Iowa State with a 51-29 advantage in kills. Alexis Shelton powered the offense with 21 kills, while Lydia Burts chipped in 10 and Taylor Preston added nine. Defensively, Ireland McNees set a career-high with 13 digs. Chamberlain chipped in nine and Callie Kemohah added eight. As a team, the Sooners tallied 9.0 blocks with Kelsey Carrington and Daleigh Ellison each tallying four.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Sooners spent the first three weeks of the season away from the friendly confines of McCasland Field House. This is the first time since 2018 that the Sooners spent three weeks on the road to open the season.

OU will spend more than half their season away from Norman with 16 road matches on the schedule. The Sooners are currently 6-6 in away matches and 2-6 in true road games. With seven matches remaining on the schedule, the Sooners will be on the road for four, with three road games in a five-day span.

DEFENSIVE DIFFERENCE
Against Tulsa on Oct. 24, the Sooners recorded 87 digs, led by a season-high 27 from Callie Kemohah. Mele Corral-Blagojevich and Sydney Thompson each notched a career-high in digs with 16 and 12, respectively. Twelve of 13 Sooners recorded at least one dig in the match with six adding at least five.

The 87 digs led to the Sooners breaking a single game five set record with 72 assists on the night. The 72 assists surpassed the old record of 71 set in 2016 against Mississippi State. Five players contributed to the record with Emma Henry tallying 40, Rylee Fay adding 18, Kemohah notching 12 and Ireland McNees and Corral-Blagojevich each tallying one.

SETTING IT UP
Freshman Emma Henry made a big-time impact in her second start of the season, recording 40 assists against Tulsa on Oct. 24. Henry paced the offense to a comeback victory in a reverse sweep over the Golden Hurricane. The freshman also added a career best seven digs on the night.

Junior transfer Rylee Fay tallied a season high 18 assists to go along with five digs to help the Sooners in the victory.

MILESTONE WATCH
Junior Setter Payton Chamberlain reached a career milestone on Oct. 29 against Iowa State as she notched her 2,000^th career assist. Chamberlain finished the match with 38 to bring her career total to 2,035 with 1,554 of those coming at OU. Chamberlain currently ranks 11^th all-time in OU history.

Junior libero Callie Kemohah reached a major milestone on Sept. 15 against UCLA. Kemohah notched 1,000 digs and now sits at 1,171 digs in her career. Kemohah now ranks 9^th all-time in OU history and could find herself in the top five by the end of the season, needing just 137 to pass Sooner legend Keyton Kinley (1,308).

QUICK HITTERS

The Sooners will face all four new conference opponents in 2023. OU will play a two-game series at UCF and Cincinnati, host Houston at home for two and face BYU at home once.
The Sooners wrapped up conference play with an impressive 7-3 record.
Eight of OU's regular season opponents earned berths to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, including Texas, Ball State, Houston, UCF, Iowa State, BYU, TCU and Baylor. Texas was crowned the national champion, while Houston and Baylor made it to the regional semifinals

THE OPPOSITION

Baylor is 12-9 on the season and 6-5 in conference play after dropping a pair of matches to Texas last weekend. The Bears are ranked No. 21 in the AVCA Coaches Poll and are the fourth ranked team the Sooners have faced this season. Baylor has six players with over 100 kills on the season, led by Elise McGhee with 263. Setter Averi Carlson has 849 assists on the season for a 10.48 assists/set mark.

Defensively, Lauren Briseno leads the Bears with 253 digs. Manuela Bibinbe has 73.0 blocks on the season, while the Bears have 166.0 as a team.

FOLLOW THE SOONERS
For updates and more information on Oklahoma Volleyball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Volleyball) and like Oklahoma Volleyball on Facebook.

UP NEXT
The Sooners will have a bye week before hosting Houston inside McCasland Field House Nov. 9-10.

Sooners Set for Midweek at No. 21 Baylor

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Players Mentioned

Kelsey Carrington

Payton Chamberlain

Mele Corral-Blagojevich

Daleigh Ellison

Rylee Fay

Emma Henry

Callie Kemohah

Lydia Martyn

Ireland McNees

Taylor Preston

Alexis Shelton

Sydney Thompson

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University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Set for Midweek at No. 21 Baylor

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kelsey Carrington

Payton Chamberlain

Mele Corral-Blagojevich

Daleigh Ellison

Rylee Fay

Emma Henry

Callie Kemohah

Lydia Martyn

Ireland McNees

Taylor Preston

Alexis Shelton

Sydney Thompson

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