OU Women's Volleyball: Big Opening Weekend: UCLA visits for Two!

[OUBeliever56A]

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!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff wrtiers article about the Sooners vs UCLA volleyball double-header on Friday and Saturday this weekend.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/14 ... cla-friday

Good luck to the VB Team!

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

I did some looking at UCLA's players to be better informed about the match tonight between the Sooners and the Bruins. Here is what I found.

Offense:

#7 Ndiaye - 6'2" - SR - OH/OPP - 132.5 points - 111 Kills, 8 Service Aces and 46 Digs and 25.0 Block Points
#9 Leverette - 6'0" - SOPH - 102.5 points OH - 102.5 points, 11 Service Aces and 47 Digs and 9.0 Block Points
#12 Olson - 6'4" - R-SR - OH/OPP - Red-SR - 91.5 points, 4 Service Aces and 14.0 Block Points
#2 Dodson - 6'5" - R-SR - MB - 88.0 points - 3 Service Aces and 31.0 Block Points
#14 Becker - 6'2" - Grad - MB - 68.0 points - 42 Blocks
#16 Mullen - 5'11" - FR - Setter - 204 assists
#11 Pak - 5'11" - SR - Setter - 134 Assists

Defense:

#6 Dueck - 5'7" - JR - Def Spec/L - 120 Digs, 150 receptions
#22 Lutz - 5'4" - FR - Def Spec/L - 45 Digs, 117 receptions

Here are some of the OU Stats for comparison:

#12 SOPH - Shelton - OH/OPP - 138 Points, 123 Kills
#23 SOPH - Preston - OH - 95.5 Points
#22 - SR - Burts - MB - 80 Points, 31.0 Block Points
#17 - JR - Ellison - OPP/OH - 64 Points
#7 - FR - Pfiffner - MB - 54.5 Points 7 Service Aces
#2 - SOPH - Chamberlain - Setter - 225 Assists, 62 Digs
#10 - JR - Kemohah - Libero - 83 Digs, 110 Receptions

Good luck on Friday and Saturday to the Sooners!

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

McCasland Field House was a fun place to be for the UCLA Bruins and Oklahoma Sooners match that started at 5 PM. I have seen a bigger crowd at McCasland in my short two years of living in Norman but the crowd was still a good one for a big matchup for Coach Mansfield squad against a West Coast power volleyball team and past royalty of the sport. UCLA came in the match with 6 straight wins. OU came came into the match off of a tough 5 set loss against Notre Dame that might have been a 5-set win. A win against the Bruins this weekend in the double header on Friday and Saturday could go a long way to give the Sooners some momentum for the rest of the season.

When it was all said and done, the Oklahoma Sooners stood very tall and won a 5-set match 3 sets to 2 sets against UCLA on Friday night. The home win for the Sooners could be as big of a win for the Sooner volleyball team as there has been in awhile. The Sooners won Set #1 25-22, Set #2, 25-21, dropped Set #3 15-25 and Set #4 24-26 before winning the critcal 5th set 15-7 for the Match Win.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the big win for the Sooners!

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/15 ... t-thriller

The Sooners played well throughout the match, but did not really play well according to the stats. in reality, the Sooners played 'well enough' to win over the Bruins in five sets on Friday. Probably the two best things the Sooners did against UCLA is serve well effectively and side-out effectively against the Bruins. The Sooners had an 88.5% 'serve-in' result and had over a 61% side-out result in the three sets that the Sooners won with an amazing 100% side-out % in the deciding Set #5.

Before the match, I thought that the play of Taylor Preston (OH) would be key against UCLA. I probably took Alexis Shelton (OH) a bit for granted as I thought she would get her points in the match. But I thought it would be important for Preston to hit well also. I also thought Lydia Burts (MB) would get her points in the middle against the bigger, stronger Bruin front line. Watching the teams warm-ups, UCLA was long and looked strong at the net. Oklahoma warmed up well I thought, but they had a big challenge in front of them.

In Set #1 the play was pretty equal as the two teams parried with each other up to a 12-12 tie. A Daleigh Ellison (OPP/OH) Kill gave OU the lead 13-12 at that point. A Shelton servive win made the score 14-12. A point later, Raylee Fay (Designated Server) ran the score to a 17-13 advantage for the Sooners on her serve. At 18-16 with the Sooners leading, An UCLA service error made the score 19-16. The two squads traded points to produce a 24-22 lead for OU. Another UCLA service error gave the first set to the Sooners 25-22. OU won the first set behind Preston's 5 points with Burts, Shelton and Hannah Pfiffner (MB) adding 3 points each.

In Set #2, UCLA played well early in the set as they took a 15-9 in the first half of the set. Sydney Thompson (Des Server/Def Specialist) brought OU back into the set with a service run of three straight points to make the score 16-18. Callie Kemohah (Libero) had a Service Ace to tie the score at 19-19. With OU leading 22-21, Shelton ran out the set on 2 errors by UCLA and a Kill by Preston at Set point to win 25-21. The Sooner comeback was a huge point in th match. OU outscored UCLA 16-6 the last half of the set! Burts led the Sooners with 5 points followed by Preston with 4.5, Shelton with 3.5 and Pfiffner with 2.0 points. OU picked up 3 Service Aces in the set.

Set #3 was dominate by UCLA as they led all the way after a 2-2 tie early in the set. UCLA led 7-3, 11-7, 15-9, 18-10 and 21-11 along the way. OU had a match high 10 errors in the set to help UCLA. Shelton had 4.0 points to led OU with Chamberlain (Setter) and Preston adding 2.0 points each.

After the lopsided loss in the 3rd set Oklahoma came out strong in Set #4 as they lead early with scores of 9-6, 14-11 and 17-12. With four straight points by UCLA they match was suddenly tied at 22-all. In the 4 point run, UCLA's Olson had two service errors. OU and UCLA traded Kills by Shelton (OU) and Dueck (UCLA) to make the score 24-24. A Hendrickson Kill for UCLA made it Set point for UCLA at 24-25. An OU attack error gave the set to UCLA at 24-26. The comeback by UCLA in Set #4 was as big as the comeback by OU in Set #2. Oklahoma was led by Burts and Shelton with 5.0 points each. Preston added 2,5 points with Kelsey Carrington (MB) adding 2.0 points. Carrington had entered the match for OU in the 3rd set. While Pfiffner was playing well for OU, I think the Sooners might have wanted a bigger stronger player on the front line in Carrington to help out against the UCLA big front line.

In the decisive 5th Set, the Sooners perhaps save their best for last. Early Shelton and Ray services staked OU to a 4-1 lead. Thompson once again added points to OU's lead at 8-3. Kemohah's serve made it 10-4. A Shelton service ace made the score 14-6. A point later, a UCLA service error that was long to give the Set and Match to the Sooners! Shelton, Burts and Preston all had 3.0 points in the set.

I have to say that I think Coach Mansfield has really done a great job at putting this group of player together in the offseason and molding them into a team that is playing well. It seems that he has 11-ish players that are all doing their jobs and playing well right now. I think the coaching change after last season is going to be a good thing for the Sooner VB Program over time.

In the UCLA match, Shelton led the Sooners with 18.5 Points with 15 Kills. Preston adding 17.0 points and led with 16 Kills. Burts added 16.5 points with 12 Kills and led with 3.5 block points. In supportive rolls, Pfiffner adde 5.5 points and 5 Kills and Carrington added 4.0 points on 3 Kills. Setter, Payton Chamberlain once again took care of the offensive distribution with 43 assists and added 3.0 points of her own. Chamberlain is very effective as the wheel that the OU attack game revolves around. Kemohah sets the defense on the back line as she consistently takes the job of taking the big shots from above the net by the opponents and trying to handle the 50+ mph kill shots of the volleyball. Other Sooners do that as well, but Kemohah has been there doing it for 3 seasons that I have seen. My hat is always off to her with respect. I thought other players like Thompson, Ray and Corral-Blagojevich (Def Specialist) also played well last night. Corral-Blagojevich had the tough job of being the player to return the UCLA serves in one rotation consistently last night. MCB, was 18 for 18 on returns. Perfection is tough to beat. OU's reception % was .922% last night. Emma Henry (Def Specialist) also played briefly last night in the first set and picked up an assist.

Again, it was a big win for the Sooners over UCLA. Now, we will see which team makes the adjustments necessary to win on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM. Ou is halfway to a big sweep of a West Coast VB power. If the Sooners can double up today with a win, the Sooners might be on their way to getting noticed in volleyball.

Good luck today once again!

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

After the OU - UCLA match on Friday night won by the Sooners 3 sets to 2 sets, the opportunity for a 2-match double-header sweep of UCLA was sitting on the tabe for the Sooners on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM. There was another decent crowd for the match. Coach Aaron Mansfield said this after the Friday night win, "It's hard to put into words," Mansfield said. "I remember stepping foot in here for the first time and just wondering what it was going to be like. Our staff and our players have worked really hard to put us in this position. I've never felt fan support like this and had a community come out and support a volleyball match like this. I feel like we have a long ways to go but, this being the first win for our staff and our new team, it's just really special."

Once again the crowd at McCasland Field House was a good one considering the Sooner Football Team was playing in Tulsa with 2:30 PM kickoff.

The UCLA Bruins were definitely going to do their best to win the match on Saturday to put a win back up on the scoreboard after Oklahoma broke the Bruins seven-match winning streak. After entering the match on Friday night in the 3rd set, Kelsey Carrington got her second match start of the season on Saturday afternoon. Mele Corral-Blagojevich (MCB) started her first match of the year on Saturday.

The match was very closely played for 3 and 2/3rds of the 4 sets played on Saturday.

• UCLA won the first set 25-19 after the set was tied at 16-16.

• Oklahoma won the 2nd set 25-22 in a set in which OU led 17-12 before UCLA came back to within one point at 23-22.

• UCLA led early in the 3rd set by as much as 12-17 before OU outscored UCLA 9-4 to tie the score at 21-21. Oklahoma had the ball in hand with the score tied at 24-all before UCLA score two straight points to win the set 24-26 over Oklahoma.

• In the fourth sets, with the score tied at 14-14, OU scored 7 of the next nine points to lead 21-16 over UCLA. After a timeout, UCLA turned the set to win four straight points to cut the lead to one point at 21-20. The play was back-and-forth until the score was 25-25. UCLA closed th set out with two Kills to win the set and the match 25-27.

Here is the Sooners staff writers article about Saturday's tough loss to UCLA.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/16 ... s-saturday

The UCLA Bruins leave Norman, Oklahoma with 1 win and 1 loss and an 8-2 record. OU is now 6-3 on the season after the weekend split with UCLA. After the weekend split, I think that the Sooners are pleased with a 1-1 record against UCLA with a bit of a disappointment about not closing a couple of sets better on Saturday. All-in-all it was a pretty good weekend for the Sooner Women's Volleyball squad.

The stats were really pretty close for the match. IMO, if there was a difference it was the ability of UCLA to keep points alive after the play at the net on OU attacks. Repetedly, the Bruins were able to scramble and keep points alive to give themselves the chance to win the point. The other difference was probably at the net on blocks. UCLA has a good set of blockers as they outscored The Sooners by 4 points on blocks with 22 shared blocks and 3 solo blocks to OU's 16 shared blocks and 2 solo blocks.

OU was led on Saturday by Taylor Preston (OH) with 17.0 points on 13 Kills, 1 Service Ace and 3 Block Points. Carrington MB) took full advantage of the start as she scored a career high 14 kills and 15.5 points as she added 1.5 Block Points. Alexis Shelton (OH) added 15.0 points on 13 Kills and 1 Service Ace and 1 Block Point. Lydia Burts also score in double-digits with 10.0 points on 8 Kills, 2 Block Points. Daleigh Ellison added 6 points on 3 Kills and 2 Block Points. Chamberlain added 2.5 points on 2 Kills and 0.5 Block Points.

Payton Chamberlain (Setter) led with 38 assists as Callie Kemohah (Libero) added 5 assists. Three Sooners had double-digit digs as Chamberlain led with 11 followed by Kemohah and MCB with 10 Digs each. MCB and Sydney Thompson (Designated Server/Def Specialist) each scored 2.0 points on 2 Service Aces each. Raylee Fay and Chloe Kaminski also played in the match for OU.

Coach Mansfield had this to say about Carrington's career match, "Kelsey's worked extremely hard, going back even to the spring to put herself in this position," head coach Aaron Mansfield said. "She earned the right to be out here tonight. I think the middle blocker position is a position that we have a lot of depth in and she really took advantage of the opportunity she was given and I'm really proud of her."

Coach Mansfield and the Sooners will now rest and prepare for another big match next Friday against the Texas Longhorns at MCCasland on Friday and Saturday nights at 6 PM. In cas you did not know, Texas is the defending NCAA Champion from the 2022 season with a 28-1 record in 2022. In 2023, Texas is 5-3 as they have lost the opening match of the season at Long Beach State, 1 set to 3 sets, lost to Stanford in Austin, 0 sets to 3 sets and lost their last match to Washington State in Austin, 1 set to 3 sets. The Longhorns have defeated #5 Minnesota on the road and #19 Ohio State in Austin, 3 sets to 1 set this season.

The pre-conference season is over for the both OU and Texas as the Big 12 play begins Wednesday night for some of the 13 teams in 2023. I will have a recap of the Big 12 teams before Wednesday action. As of right now, every Big 12 Volleyball Squad has at least a winning record so far in pre-conference play.

I am very encouraged as a Sooner Volleyball fan about the team's play so far this season for Coach Mansfield and his staff. The team has depth and is serving the ball much better this year than what I have seen the last couple of seasons. The team can attack at the net and has the potential to play well at the net on for blocks on defense. They have good back row defensive players also. The Sooners can make a case for being 8-1 with a few key points changing sides in two matches instead of 6-3 with a switch in the Notre Dame match last weekend and the UCLA match on Saturday.

It will be an interesting double-header against Texas next Friday and Saturday as Texas coming in perhaps a bit down about their play and the Sooners feeling pretty well about themseles and thinking they could be just a bit better with a few points changing.

Boomer Sooner!