Oklahoma VB in Mississippi: Match #2 vs Mississippi State-> Sun

[OUBeliever56A]

After defeating the ole Miss Rebels on Friday night in Oxford, MS, the Oklahoma Sooners Volleyball Team will be in Starkville, MS on Sunday to face the Bulldogs in a 2 PM match.

The Sooners improved their record to 5-6 in the SEC and 11-8 overall with their win over Ole Miss in 5 sets on Friday. The Sooners have 5 SEC matches left on their schedule. The Soones have won 4 of thir last 6 matches.

Mississippi State lost their last match to Texas in 4 sets in Starkville. They are now 4-6 in SEC play and 10-9 overall. In their last last four matches, the Bulldogs are 3-1 with wins over Ole Miss, Arkansas at home and Texas A&M on the road winning 9 sets out of 10 played.

When looking at the two teams here are their stats on offense and defense:
Oklahoma --> Offense: 13.09 Kills, 1.27 Service Aces and 2.78 Block Points = 17.14 Points per Set
Miss State --> Offense: 13.61 Kills, 1.11 service Aces and 2.26 Block Points = 16.98 Points per Set.

Oklahoma --> Errors: 4.82 Kills, 2.58 Service, 1.62 Receptions, 0.58 Blocks = 9.60 Errors per Set
Miss State --> Errors: 5.03 Kills, 1.89 Service, 1.40 Receptions, 0.84 Blocks = 9.16 Errors per Set

Oklahoma --> Offense VS Errors Net = 7.54 per Set
Miss State --> Offense VS Errors Net = 7.82 per Set

There is not a great deal of seperation between the two teams. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two teams is that OU has played seveen 5-set matches while Mississippi State has just played two 5-set matches. Oklahoma is 4-3 in those matches, Mississippi State is 0-2.

The match will ultimately be a match between the hitters. For Oklahoma, that is Alexis Shelton with 392.0 points, Lydia Martin with 224.5 points, Kari Geissberger with 223.5 points and Kamille Gibson with 192.0 points. KJ Burgess and Hannah Pfiffer adds 145.0 points. for Mississippi State it will be Kalin Newsome with 249.5 points and Karli Schmidt with 213.5 points leading the way. Helping will be Amina Shackelford with 195.5 points and Arissa Smith with 178.0 points. Two others, Rebecca Walk and Arianna Bechham have 118.5 and 112.0 points.

Mississippi State is led at the service line by Mele Corrall-Blogojevich with 21 aces for the year. MCB was a Sooner freshman in 2023 and transferred to MSU after the season. for OU, Jasmine Ellison, freshman, leads with 19 aces. OU has 99 aces for the season compared to only 78 by MSU.

As of Saturday, the Sooners own an RPI ranking of #35 while Mississippi State of #100. The Sooners, in their quest to perhaps be selected for the NCAA Tourney need to defeat the Bulldogs on the road.

Good luck to the Sooners on Sunday afternoon.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Volleyball Team is on a pretty good roll right now. They have won 3 matches in a row and 5 of their last 7 matches. On Sunday, The Sooners were in Starkville to play Mississipi State. The Sooners dropped the first set, 23-25 before rallying to win the next three sets by the scores 25-19, 25-21, 25-22. The win raises the Sooners record in SEC play to 6-6 and their overall record to 12-8 for the season. The Bulldogs of Mississippi State fell to 4-7 in the SEC and 10-10 overall.

The Sooners actually held the ball with a 23-21 lead in the first set before Mississippi State won the next four points to win the first sets. Not to be picky, but the Sooners could have won in three staight sets. But theyrecovered nicely in the following three sets.

Once again, Alexis Shelton led the attack by the Sooners as she totaled 19.5 points in the match on 17 kills and 2.5 block points. Lydia Martin and Kari Geissberger alsoplayed key roles in the match with 13.5 and 14.5 points. Martin had 9 kills with 4.5 block points and Geissberger had 12 kills with 2.5 block points. Kamille Gibson added 13.0 points with 12 kills and 1.0 block point. KJ Burgess had 8.5 points on 4 kills and 4.5 block points. The Sooners had 18.0 block points in the match.

Payton Chamberlain had a high point match for a setter as she added 7.0 points with 3 kills, 1 service ace and 3.0 block points. Chamberlain also added 45 assists in the 4 set match. Callie Kemohah added 5 assists with Geissberger picking up 2 along with Jasmine Ellison while Whitney Wallace added 1 assist.

Alexis Shelton, playing all 6 rotations, picked up 11 digs, with Kemohah andChamberlain added 9 each.Ellison had 8, Wallace had 6 and Geissberger had 5. Martin, Burgess and Sydney Thompson each had 1.

After a slow start, the Sooners outhit the Bulldogs with a 41.3 kill% and and 26.1 hitting%, MSU totalled a 35.7 kill% and a 15.3 hitting%.

The best news about the Sooners is that their RPI value is climbing. They started the week on Monday with an RPI ranking of 44. After their wins over Ole Miss and Mississipi State this week, their RPI value is 34, That places the Sooners sqarely on course for a possible NCAA bid at the end of the season.

Here is the post-match article about the win over Mississipi State written by the Sooner Staff writers.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/11/1 ... ory-at-msu

The Sooners will return home to Norman and McCasland Field House for their next three matches against Texas A&M (RPI 25), Texas (RPI 11) and Auburn (RPI 42) over the next two weeks. They wil close the season at Arkansas (RPI 38) the following week.

Congratulations to the Sooner Volleyball Team on their winning streak and their sweep in Mississippi this week!

Boomer Sooner!