Sooner Volleyball Hosts the OU Invitational Tourney this Weekend

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the staff writers article about the weekend action for the Sooner Volleyball squad. Gonzaga, Iowa and Florida International join Oklahoma in the tourney played at McCasland Field House.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/8/25 ... riday.aspx

This will be the first regular season action for all four teams. In 2021, the records for all four teams were;

- Oklahoma 10-17
- FIU 9-13
- Gonzaga 9-20
- Iowa 6-24

Looking at all four teams schedule for the weekend, I think the full schedule is as follows;

Friday
Noon - Gonzaga vs Iowa
5 PM - Iowa vs FIU
7 PM - Gonzaga vs Oklahoma

Saturday:
Noon - Gonzaga vs FIU
5 PM - Iowa vs Oklahoma

Sunday:
1 PM - FIU vs Oklahoma

Good luck to the Sooner Volleyball squad this weekend as they try to start strong in 2022.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Volleyball team opened their season with a very solid win over Gonzaga on Friday night in front of a very good crowd at McCasland Field House. The Sooners swept the match in three straight sets, winning 25-18, 25-19, 25-19. Here is the staff writers article about the opening night win by the Sooners!

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/8/26 ... pener.aspx

The Sooners displayed an improved attack game with kill attempts from both sides of the Outside Hitters on the front row as well as the Middle Blocker position. They also showed that the Sooners can effectively attack the net on back row sets with Wilson, Davison and Shelton. The attack plan for the Sooners last night was big improvement over last season IMO.

The starters were:

Megan Wilson, OH - SOPH
Peyton Dunn, Setter - SOPH
Savanna Davison, OH - GR SR
Andria Oliver, MB - GR SR
Alexis Shelton, OH - FRESH
Morgan Perkins, MB - FREH
Callie Kemohah, Libero - SOPH

Dunn, Wilson and Davison never left the floor as they contributed from the front row and back row as well as serving in the game. The MB position was filled by Oliver and Perkins the entire game. Chloe Kaminski, DS and a FRESH, rotated in to serve and play the back row for Shelton with Shelton replacing Kaminski when she rotated to the front row. Kemohah was used to substitute for Perkins when she moved to the back row. Grace Talpash replaced Oliver to serve and play defense on the back row. (I think I got that right.)

I was a bit surprised to that only 9 players saw action as the Sooners do have improved depth this season. I somewhat expected that Carrington (MB), Chamberlain (Setter, DS), Birmingham (OH), Alcorn (MB) and Preston (OH) to see some action last night. One note about the team is that Birmingham was not in uniform last night.

Offensively, Davison and Wilson lead the team in points with 16 each. Oliver added 11, with two freshman, Shelton and Perkins adding 7.5 and 6.5 respectively. Dunn distributed the ball well around the court all night long. The offensive plan was a strong one last night. Oliver lead the team with 4 blocks and energy. Kemohah and Kaminski and Talpash played well on the back row defensively also.

The Sooners had a low amount of errors last night with only 12 attack errors and a team hitting % of 0.357 last night. The team only had 4 service errors and 7 service receiving errors on the night.

The Sooners play Iowa Saturday evening at 5 PM at McCasland Field House. Iowa won two matches yesterday against Gonzaga and FIU by 3-0 sweeps.

Good luck to the Sooners tonight.

Sooner Boomer!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners Volleyball team made it two in row to start the 2022 as they once again swept Iowa for their second win of the season. The set scores were 25-18, 25-21, 25-22. Here is the staff writers article about Saturday's match.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/8/27 ... c-win.aspx

Coach Gray-Walton seems to be very happy about her team and the crowd on Saturday. IMO, she should be. McCasland Field House was pretty crowded again on Saturday. Per the article the attendance was 1,003. I thought the crowd on Friday was very close to the Saturday crowd.

The team is fun to watch. The 2022 version of the team is much more athletic than the 2021 team. On any point, the Sooners have at least four players that are ready to attack the net.

In a repeat of Friday night, the same 9 players played for the Sooners. Oliver and Perkins filled the MB role. Wilson, Davison, Shelton, filled the OH roles, Dunn was the setter with Kemohah, Kaminski and Talpash playing defensive roles and serving.

Last night Megan Wilson was on her game. Wilson had he had 19 kills and 22.5 points. Her kill % was .400. Shelton was more of a force on Saturday as she broke into double figures for the first time with 11 kills and points. Oliver and Perkins added 6.0 and 4.5 points respectively with Davison scoring 5 points, Dunn 4 points and Kemohah 1 point. The Sooners had a solid kill % of .255 for the night.

Two of the reasons that the Sooners are improved in 2022 is their service game. Their serves look to be improved across the team. And more importantly, in their first two games, the Sooners have only had 4 service errors each night. The Sooners averaged 8.1 service errors per match last season.

One point I will mention is that I would say that the music and the in-game DJ person's microphone is rather loud inside McCasland at times. Maybe for us non-teenagers in the crowd, if the volume was tuned down a bit, the environment could be a little more enjoyable.

The Sooners face Florida International (0-2) at 1 PM today at McCasland. The matches are enjoyable times. C'mon to the match and let's see if we can have a 1,500 fan attendance as Coach Gray-Walton mentioned in the article.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners made it 3 wins in a row as they defeated Florida International University in their Sunday match 3 sets to 1 set to end the first weekend undefeated in matches after wins over Gonzaga, Iowa and FIU. The set scores today were 25-27, 25-18, 25-18 and 25-17. The Sooners have won 9 of their first 10 sets in 2022.

The Sooners started with a different lineup on Sunday. Today the starters were:

- Megan Wilson, OH - SOPH
- Peyton Dunn, Setter - SOPH
- Taylor Preston, OH - FRESH
- Andria Oliver, MB - GR SR
- Alexis Shelton, OH - FRESH
- Morgan Perkins, MB - FREH
- Callie Kemohah, Libero - SOPH

It was Preston's first start of her career and the season.

The Sooners started a bit slowly today. The reasons for the slow start were 2 service errors, and 10 hitting errors (.122% hitting %). The Sooners just did not seem sharp as they had been the two previous days. The Sooners took and early lead at 7-2 but FIU fought their way back to an 11-11 tie. The set remained very close until OU took a 23-19 before FIU surged to tie the score at 25-25. FIU then won their 2nd and 3rd straight points to win the set 27-25. In the first set, the defensive/serving subs for OU Chloe Kaminski (FR) and Sydney Thompson (FR). It looked like that Coach Gray-Walton respectively informed her team that they were better than they played the first set. She told them that was not who they were. And the team responded well to her comments. that is a very good sign.

In the 2nd set the Sooners changed things up a bit with Savannah Davison (GR-SR) taking Alexis Shelton's spot as a starter. The two defensive/serving subs remained Kaminski and Thompson. Oklahoma improved their hitting % to .364 in the 2nd set. Instead of 12 service and kill errors, The Sooners cut their errors by half with only 6 in Set 2. OU won the set 25-18.

The starting lineup for Set 2 remained in play for Set 3 as well as the defensive/serving subs. The Sooners continued their improvement in errors as they only had 4 in Set 3. (2 Service errors and 2 hitting errors). Their hitting % was .357 as well. After a 9-9 tie, Oklahoma ran out to another 25-18 set win.

Their were no lineup changes for the Sooner in Set 5 except that Kelsey Carrington (JR) did enter the set at Middle Blocker at the end of the set. Once again, after an 8-8 tie, the Sooners ran off to the 25-17 win in the set and for the Match win.

The Point leaders for the Sooners were:

1. Wilson 19.5 - 17 Kills - 1 Service Ace - 3 Blocks
2. Davison 14.5 - 12 Kills - 1 Solo Block - 3 Blocks
3. Preston 12.5 - 12 Kills - 1 Block
4. Perkins 11.0 - 8 Kills - 6 Blocks
5. Oliver 7.0 - 6 Kills - 2 Blocks
6. Dunn 3.0 - 1 Kill - 2 Service Aces
7. Shelton 1.5 - 1 Kill - 1 Block
8. Kemohah 1.0 - 1 Service Ace
9. Kaminski 1.0 - 1 Service Ace
10. Thompson 1.0 - 1 Service Ace
11. Carrington 0

The Sooners continue to get very good play from Wilson who has not left the court yet in 2022. IMO, she is an improved player in conditioning and her ability to adjust in the air on kill attempts. Davion played with a great amount of energy today after she entered the match for Set 2. When Davison is on, she is impressive to watch. Preston and Oliver continue to play well at MB. Oliver provides the energy and Preston quietly adds points to the scoreboard. Preston is her first start played well today and is an all around player and can play both the front and back rows if asked to do so, Shelton only played in the Set 1 today but in the other two matches she has played well and shown the versatility to play front and back rows. Between Shelton and Preston, the Sooners have two very good OH who are freshman. Dunn played well as the setter today, but she did have to move a great deal to retrieve service returns today which affected her setting targets. I think that slowed the varied attack also as the positioning was a bit off. Kemohah is simply going to do her job set after set as the Libero and playing on the back row and as the 'bumper' when Dunn is not available. Kaminski showed a few freshman moments today but has played well this weekend. Thompson played well today in her first opportunity as a Sooner. Carrington was able to see the court in today's match.

Things are going well for the Sooner Volleyball Team right now. When someone has been off, someone else has stepped up and helped fill the gap. Their attack is varied and their errors have been minimized over 2021. They are exciting to watch and worthy of a good crowd when they play.

The Sooners will take their 3-0 record to Nashville next weekend as they play Ball State, Mississippi State and Lipscomb on Friday thru Sunday.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the staff writers article about the Sooners win today over FIU.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/8/28 ... -2018.aspx

Congratulations to Megan Wilson and Peyton Dunn for making the All-Tournament Team.

Boomer Sooner!

[AustinTXSooner]

I watched all three matches this weekend and we definitely look improved from last year. We looked good. We're using the center quick set a lot more. We're using the back row set now (I don't remember seeing one last year). Our serving is better. I think we're better in every phase of the game than we were last year.

The back row sets are interesting. I remember seeing Wilson and Davison getting them, maybe even Shelton? Davison is a force from there, but she gets targeted on the back row constantly by the other team. I wonder if that's why she didn't start the third match.

Oliver and Perkins looked great. Oliver is electric when she's in there. Preston looked great. Makes you wonder why she only played in the third match. Wilson is becoming a complete player. Her serve is difficult to handle.

I was a little surprised that we didn't see Payton Chamberlain, especially considering the graphics for every pre-game had her starting. I think Chamberlain and Bayless were the only two new players that didn't play this weekend. We brought in a lot of good talent.

[OUBeliever56A]

I totally agree about Chamberlain and her not playing. I was really surprised by that. In the Crimson & Cream scrimage, Chamberlain played very well as the 2nd setter. While I think that Talpash, Kaminski and Thompsin played well enough, I would believe that Chamberlain is simply a better athlete and player for the back row that adds versatility to the lineup.

I might also suggest that when Dunn is on the front row defensively, while giving great effort, she is undersized for blocking and it reduces the attack options. I might sub for Dunn with Shelton or Preston and let Chamberlain be the setter. Dunn is playing well, but utilizing Chamberlain's skills might help.

Just a thought.