Volleyball Set for Home-and-Home Showdown with Sugar Bears

NORMAN – Closing out the non-conference slate, the Oklahoma volleyball team will face Central Arkansas in a home-and-home series Sept. 18 and 21. The Sooners will host the Sugar Bears first before traveling to Conway, Ark., for the final non-conference game of the season.

Thursday's match will air on SECN+ with Kelly Files and Chris Plank on the call at 5 p.m. Sunday's match will air on ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. CT.

Date: Thursday, Sept. 18
Time: 5 p.m. CT
Opponent: Central Arkansas
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Watch: SECN+

Date: Sunday, Sept. 21
Time: 3:30 p.m. CT
Opponent: Central Arkansas
Live Stats: UCA Live Stats
Watch: ESPN+

WEEKEND REWIND
The Sooners had a 3-0 week to improve to 7-1 on the season. First up was a five-set thriller with Florida State that saw Emoni Bush record the first double-double of the season and Alexis Shelton tally the first 20-plus kill performance. The duo led OU offensively to a win in the SEC/ACC Showdown at the Net. A two-game weekend series against St. Mary's went the way of the Sooners with a four-set victory on Friday and sweep on Saturday. The offense showed off in both matches with the team hitting .333 and .421, respectively, in the two matches.

HOT START
The Sooners 7-1 start on the season is tied for the best record through eight matches since the 2016 season. If OU wins both matches against UCA, the .900 winning percentage would be the highest in non-conference play since 1997. The 9-1 start to the season would also be just the fourth time since 1997 that the Sooners had just one loss through the first 10 games.

E-MONEY
Emoni Bush had arguably the best outing of her career on Sept. 13, hitting an incredible .800 in a three-set victory over St. Mary's. Bush had the first 20-kill game of her career and recorded zero errors on 25 swings. The graduate is the only Sooner in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) to hit .800 with a minimum of 20 attempts. She is the sixth Sooner to record a .800 or higher hitting percentage with a minimum of 10 attempts and the only outside hitter to do so. Bush now leads the nation in single game hitting percentage (minimum 20 attempts). Over the three-game week, Bush recorded two matches over .400 and now has four such on the season. She also tallied double-digit kills in all three matches and has double-digits in seven of eight matches and five straight. Bush recorded a team best hitting percentage of .477.

WEEKEND WARRIOR
Kelli Jo Burgess had a phenomenal week both offensively and defensively for the Sooners in a 3-0 week, Sept. 10-13. Burgesses best offensive performance of the week came against St. Mary's on Sept. 12 where she recorded 10 kills on 16 swings and zero errors for a team-best .625 hitting percentage. This was the third game of the season in which Burgess recorded zero errors with at least 10 attempts and her second double-digit kill performance of the year. Both her double-digit kill performances have come with no errors and at least 15 swings. Her best defensive performance came against St. Mary's on Saturday. Burgess notched 8.0 blocks, including one solo block to lead OU to a 3-0 sweep. On the weekend, she tallied a team-high 16 blocks while adding 22 kills and just three errors for a .442 hitting percentage, the second highest hitting percentage on the team for the week.

SET IT UP
Freshman Avaya Maga has made an immediate impact at setter for the Sooners, notching five 20-plus assist games on the year, and one 30-plus assist game. Maga tallied a season and career high 31 assists against FSU on Sept. 10 to bring her season total to 188. Sophomore Harper Hall has been sharing the duties at setter and has notched 20 assists in four games this season, including a season high 24. Hall has tallied 145 assists on the year.

TERRIFIC TEKOA
Freshmen Tekoa Barnes had a breakout match against St. Mary's on Sept. 12, recording an impressive .524 hitting percentage with a career high 14 kills. The Boynton Beach, Fla., native broke double-digit kills for the first time in her career and tallied the second highest hitting percentage on the team in the game. Barnes had just three errors in 21 swings, her highest attempt output of the year.

THE OPPOSITION
Central Arkansas: The Sugar Bears are 2-6 on the season, with wins over Little Rock and Chicago State. OU and UCA have a common opponent as the Bears opened their season against Texas A&M, whom the Sooners will face in October. UCA took A&M to five sets, winning sets two and three to take a 2-1 lead before dropping the final two sets. Laci Bohannan is leading the attack with 48 kills so far this season. Caylan Koons, the setter, has been central to UCA's offense with 126 assists. On the defensive side: Alexis McDaniel leads in digs (92), with Bohannan and Koons also contributing heavily.

LOOKING AHEAD

Conference play is on the horizon as the Sooners will host LSU and Ole Miss for the first weekend of SEC action. The SEC opener is Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. against the Tigers, followed by Sunday's matchup with the Rebels at noon on SEC Network.

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