OU Women's Volleyball: Big Opening Weekend: UCLA visits for Two!
Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2023 8:43 am
The Oklahoma Sooner Volleyball Team host VB royalty this weekend at McCasland Field House for two matches against UCLA. Yes, that is right. The light blue and gold clad UCLA Bruin Volleyball team will be in Norman to play the Oklahoma Sooners. They play at 5 PM on Friday evening and then again at 2 PM on Saturday. I hope the Sooner fans turn out for new Coach Aaron Mansfield to support the program and to witness as the Sooners take on a legendary program. It is true that UCLA has only won 1 national title in the 2000's (2011) but before the Stanford (9 Titles) and the Big 10 (Penn State 7 titles, Nebraska 5 titles) took over VB, UCLA led the sport with their 3 championship (4 after 2011). The matchup this weekend is like Michigan coming to town for a football game or Tennessee coming to town for a women's basketball game.
UCLA is 7-1 in 2023 play and was 16-13 in play in 2022. They were 10-10 in Pac-10 Play in 2022. UCLA also has a new head coach in 2023 in Alfred Reft as he is moving from San Diego to UCLA. Reft also has Big 10 Head Coaching experience. From what I see, UCLA has picked up several transfers for the 2023 season. In the early play the Bruins have only lost to LSU as they split two matches in the first weekend of play. UCLA defeated Hawaii on Sunday night for their 7th straight win of the early season. It does seem that UCLA is in a bit of a rebuilding mode despite their history.
Oklahoma is 5-2 on the season as they have played all their matches on the road. The Sooners have played well this preseason as they have won their five matches by the scores of 3 sets to 0 or 3 sets to 1. their two losses have come to Oregon State in Corvallis 0 sets to 3 and against Notre Dame 2 sets to 3 sets in South Bend. The Oregon State match is the only match where the Sooners have not played well.
The Sooners have settled into the season with six (6) returning players, three (3) transfer and two (2) new freshmen in the regular rotation or starting.
Returning Players: Callie Kemohah (JR - Libero), Payton Chamberlain (JR - Setter), Alexis Shelton (SOPH - OH), Taylor Preston (SOPH - OH), Chloe Kaminski (SOPH - Def Spec/Server) and Sydney Thompson (SOPH - Def Spec/Server).
Transfers: Lydia Burts (Red-SR - MB - Liberty), Daleigh Ellison (JR - OPP/OH - Texas State) and Raylee Fay (JR - Server/Setter - New Mexico St).
Freshmen: Hannah Pfiffner (FR - Frisco, TX) and Mele Corral-Blagojevich (FR - Redondo Beach, CA).
Leading the attack on offense has been Shelton, Preston and Burts. Shelton has 123 Kills, PReston has 90 and Burts has 60. Ellison and Pfiffner have added 47 and 45 Kills to round out the top 5 on offense. Shelton has had three 20+ kill matches and Preston has had one 20+ Kill match. Chamberlain has 285 assists for the season averaging almost 11 assists per set. and helping Chamberlain is Kemohah with 37 assists. The Sooners have upped their serving game in 2023, IMO. Oklahoma has 9 players with at least 2 serving Aces. Ellison leads with 7 followed by Chamberlain and Thompson with 6, Kemohah and Shelton with 5, MCB and Burts with 4, Kaminski with 3 and Fay with 2.
On defense, Burts leads with 31 Blocking Points followed by Ellison at 20, Pfiffner and Shelton with 18, Chamberlain at 16 and Preston at 11. The 'Dig' leader for the Sooners is Kemohah with 83, Chamberlain with 62, Shelton with 44, MCB with 35 and Thompson with 33. Four other Sooners have double-digit Digs. A 'dig' is basically a 'saved point' on defense as the player makes a play off of a kill attempt by the other team.
IMO, the Sooners are playing well and have the potential to improve their serving game and their blocking game a bit to become even better.
It sounds strange to say this, but when I saw UCLA on the schedule for the first weekend at home for the Sooners when the schedule was released, I thought "that might be a tough home opener for the Sooners". But now, I feel much better about the matchup. Neither UCLA or Oklahoma has played a ranked team so far in 2023 so it is hard to tell who is the stronger team before they play. Currently UCLA is receiving votes for the Top 25 teams and would sit in 27th if the rankings were extended. UCLA has played Hawaii who was ranked but now i receiving votes and would set in 31st.
The Sooner Volleyball team has to be mentally to play this weekend and truly believe they can be successful against UCLA. If the Sooners were to win a match, it would begin the process to be validated as a VB program. If the Sooners should win both matches, the Sooners would jump several hurdles in front of them in one single leap. If nothing else, the match against UCLA provides a very good warmup for the opening of the Big 12 season which follows the following weekend. OU opens their Big 12 play against Texas in Norman in two matches. Texas is currently ranked as the #6 team. OU then travels to Orlando to play UCF in two matches. UCF is receiving votes in the polls and would set in 28th one spot behind UCLA. The Sooners then return home to host BYU who is ranked #12. These 7 matches, played one at a time, could very well determine a great deal about the 2023 season. Coach Mansfield and the Sooners needs to play very well, four weekends in a row starting tomorrow night.
Play well Sooners!
Boomer Sooner!
UCLA is 7-1 in 2023 play and was 16-13 in play in 2022. They were 10-10 in Pac-10 Play in 2022. UCLA also has a new head coach in 2023 in Alfred Reft as he is moving from San Diego to UCLA. Reft also has Big 10 Head Coaching experience. From what I see, UCLA has picked up several transfers for the 2023 season. In the early play the Bruins have only lost to LSU as they split two matches in the first weekend of play. UCLA defeated Hawaii on Sunday night for their 7th straight win of the early season. It does seem that UCLA is in a bit of a rebuilding mode despite their history.
Oklahoma is 5-2 on the season as they have played all their matches on the road. The Sooners have played well this preseason as they have won their five matches by the scores of 3 sets to 0 or 3 sets to 1. their two losses have come to Oregon State in Corvallis 0 sets to 3 and against Notre Dame 2 sets to 3 sets in South Bend. The Oregon State match is the only match where the Sooners have not played well.
The Sooners have settled into the season with six (6) returning players, three (3) transfer and two (2) new freshmen in the regular rotation or starting.
Returning Players: Callie Kemohah (JR - Libero), Payton Chamberlain (JR - Setter), Alexis Shelton (SOPH - OH), Taylor Preston (SOPH - OH), Chloe Kaminski (SOPH - Def Spec/Server) and Sydney Thompson (SOPH - Def Spec/Server).
Transfers: Lydia Burts (Red-SR - MB - Liberty), Daleigh Ellison (JR - OPP/OH - Texas State) and Raylee Fay (JR - Server/Setter - New Mexico St).
Freshmen: Hannah Pfiffner (FR - Frisco, TX) and Mele Corral-Blagojevich (FR - Redondo Beach, CA).
Leading the attack on offense has been Shelton, Preston and Burts. Shelton has 123 Kills, PReston has 90 and Burts has 60. Ellison and Pfiffner have added 47 and 45 Kills to round out the top 5 on offense. Shelton has had three 20+ kill matches and Preston has had one 20+ Kill match. Chamberlain has 285 assists for the season averaging almost 11 assists per set. and helping Chamberlain is Kemohah with 37 assists. The Sooners have upped their serving game in 2023, IMO. Oklahoma has 9 players with at least 2 serving Aces. Ellison leads with 7 followed by Chamberlain and Thompson with 6, Kemohah and Shelton with 5, MCB and Burts with 4, Kaminski with 3 and Fay with 2.
On defense, Burts leads with 31 Blocking Points followed by Ellison at 20, Pfiffner and Shelton with 18, Chamberlain at 16 and Preston at 11. The 'Dig' leader for the Sooners is Kemohah with 83, Chamberlain with 62, Shelton with 44, MCB with 35 and Thompson with 33. Four other Sooners have double-digit Digs. A 'dig' is basically a 'saved point' on defense as the player makes a play off of a kill attempt by the other team.
IMO, the Sooners are playing well and have the potential to improve their serving game and their blocking game a bit to become even better.
It sounds strange to say this, but when I saw UCLA on the schedule for the first weekend at home for the Sooners when the schedule was released, I thought "that might be a tough home opener for the Sooners". But now, I feel much better about the matchup. Neither UCLA or Oklahoma has played a ranked team so far in 2023 so it is hard to tell who is the stronger team before they play. Currently UCLA is receiving votes for the Top 25 teams and would sit in 27th if the rankings were extended. UCLA has played Hawaii who was ranked but now i receiving votes and would set in 31st.
The Sooner Volleyball team has to be mentally to play this weekend and truly believe they can be successful against UCLA. If the Sooners were to win a match, it would begin the process to be validated as a VB program. If the Sooners should win both matches, the Sooners would jump several hurdles in front of them in one single leap. If nothing else, the match against UCLA provides a very good warmup for the opening of the Big 12 season which follows the following weekend. OU opens their Big 12 play against Texas in Norman in two matches. Texas is currently ranked as the #6 team. OU then travels to Orlando to play UCF in two matches. UCF is receiving votes in the polls and would set in 28th one spot behind UCLA. The Sooners then return home to host BYU who is ranked #12. These 7 matches, played one at a time, could very well determine a great deal about the 2023 season. Coach Mansfield and the Sooners needs to play very well, four weekends in a row starting tomorrow night.
Play well Sooners!
Boomer Sooner!