Sooners Home For Wednesday Tilt with Texas A&M

NORMAN – For the first time in November, the Oklahoma volleyball team is back at home inside McCasland Field House for a midweek matchup against Texas A&M. The two teams will go head-to-head on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

Date: Wednesday, Nov. 12
Time: 7 p.m. CT
Opponent: Texas A&M
Watch: SEC Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast

LOOK BACK AT IT
The Sooners went 2-0 on the weekend as they defeated Ole Miss (3-2) and Mississippi State (3-1) on the road. A trio of Sooners reached career milestones as Payton Chamberlain reached 3,000 assists, Lydia Martyn reached 500 blocks and Alexis Shelton reached 1,000 kills.

Against Ole Miss, the Sooners found themselves in their third-straight five-set match. After dropping the first set, the Sooners took a 2-1 lead in the match before Ole Miss forced a fifth and final set. Tied at 10-all in the fifth, OU used a 5-0 run to claim the match. At Mississippi State, OU dropped the first set before storming back to take the next three. Shelton recorded her team-leading eighth double-double of the season in the match, while the defense put up 18.0 blocks.

MILESTONE WEEKEND
Against Ole Miss, a trio of Sooners found themselves reaching career milestones. Payton Chamberlain entered the match needing just 24 assists to reach the 3,000-career mark. In the third set, Chamberlain notched her 3,000^th assist and now sits at 3,065. In her three years at OU after transferring from Wyoming, the senior has recorded 2,584 assists.

Alexis Shelton needed 21 kills to reach 1,000 for her career. With 20 kills in the match and only two points away from it finishing, Shelton's 1,000th kill ended up as the game-winning point against Ole Miss. The junior now has 1,017 and is the 15^th Sooner to reach the 1,000-kills mark.

Lydia Martyn needed just three blocks to hit 500 in her career. Martyn tallied a team-high six in the match and another eight on Sunday to bring her career total to 510. Martyn is also now just 20 kills away from reaching 1,000 in her career. With a 2.06 kills/set rate, Martyn could reach 1,000 before her career ends this season.

FAMILIAR FOE
When Texas A&M comes to town on Wednesday night, the Sooners and Aggies will be reunited in conference play for the first time since 2011 as members of the Big 12. The two teams have met three times since their last conference meeting with OU taking a pair of matches in Norman in 2018 and A&M earning a victory on College Station in 2019. The Aggies will also have a familiar face on the sidelines as former OU head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton is an associate head coach for A&M.

WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY
The Sooners defense has been a force to be reckoned with this season, ranking 7^th-nationally with 2.86 blocks/set. OU has recorded at least 7.0 blocks in every match this year and reached the double-digit mark on 12 occasions. Against Tulsa on Sept. 13, the Sooners put up an impressive 20.0 blocks, the most by a Sooner squad since tallying 19.0 against Kansas State in 2020. Against Texas on Nov. 3, the Sooners tallied 16.5 blocks, the most Texas has allowed all season. On Nov. 10 at Mississippi State, the Sooners notched 18.0 blocks, the second most by any team in SEC play this season. In conference play the Sooners are first in blocks/set with 2.80.

STATS & RANKINGS
Multiple Sooners are ranked in their respective strengths in conference action. Lydia Martyn continues to rank at the top of the hitting percentage group with a .419 mark in league play and also ranks eighth in blocks/set at 1.11. Payton Chamberlain is fifth in assists/set with 9.98 and Alexis Shelton is 10^th in kills/set with 3.92 Sooners are second in hitting percentage at .270.

THE OPPOSITION
TEXAS A&M: The Aggies are 15-7 on the year and 6-6 in SEC play after dropping three-straight matches. Last week, A&M fell 3-0 to both Mississippi State and Kentucky, before dropping a four-set match to Tennessee. The Aggies rank third in the league in opponent hitting percentage, keeping teams to just a .202 mark. Morgan Perkins is eighth in hitting percentage with a .358 mark, while Logan Lednicky is sixth in kills/set at 4.42. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla is seventh in blocks/set at 1.15.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Sooners will have a bye week over the weekend, before returning to McCasland Field House for the final two home games of the season. OU will host Texas on Friday, Nov. 22, for the second of two matches with the Longhorns, before welcoming Auburn to Norman on Sunday, Nov. 24, for Senior Night.

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