Sooner Women's Volleyball - Roster and Schedule for 2022

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OUBeliever56A
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Sooner Women's Volleyball - Roster and Schedule for 2022

Post by OUBeliever56A »

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Volleyball Team Roster and the 2022 Schedule has been released. The Sooner Volleyball Team under Head Coach Lindsay Grey-Walton enter the season with a small roster of 13 players which includes 5 new Sooners, 1 Sophomore and 4 Freshman. The new Sooners are in bold below. I have also underlined what I would call the 4 returning starters from the 2021 season. The 4 new freshman were considered a Top 10 set of recruits for the 2021 Class.

2022 Oklahoma Sooner Volleyball Roster
NO. NAME POS. HT. YR. HOMETOWN / PREV SCHOOL
1 Kelsey Carrington MB 6-3 Jr. MT. PLEASANT, WIS. / Saint Catherine's
2 Payton Chamberlain S 6-0 So. Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson HS
3 Megan Wilson MB/OH 6-4 So. Kingwood, Texas / Kingwood High School
4 Peyton Dunn S 5-11 So. Parker, Colo. / Legend High School
5 Kristen Birmingham OH 6-1 So. Kansas City, Mo. / Park Hill High School
9 Savannah Davison OH 5-10 Gr. Toronto, Ont., Canada / St. Mary's
10 Callie Kemohah DS 5-6 So. Lucas, Texas / Lovejoy High School
12 Alexis Shelton OH 6-1 Fr. Charlotte, N.C. / Ardrey Kell HS
17 Tyler Alcorn MB 6-0 Jr. Lafayette, LA. / Teurlings Catholic High School
20 Grace Talpash S 5-8 Sr. Temecula, Calif / Great Oak High School
21 Morgan Perkins MB 6-1 Fr. Rosharon, Texas / Episcopal HS
23 Taylor Preston OH 6-2 Fr. Union, Ky. / St. Henry District HS
25 Chloe Kaminski DS 5-9 Fr. Blue Springs, Mo. / Blue Springs HS

The 2022 Schedule can be found at this url:

https://soonersports.com/sports/volleyball/schedule

The first opportunity to see the 2022 edition of the Sooner Volleyball Team is August 13th for the Crimson-Cream scrimmage. No time is shown for the scrimmage event on that Saturday.

After a trip to Fort Smith to play Central Arkansas on the 19th of August, the Sooners are home for 3 matches the following weekend against Gonzaga on Friday, Iowa on Saturday and Florida International on Sunday. The first ranked opponent for the final 2021 rankings is Texas in the Big 12 opener on September 24th in Austin. Mississippi State was ranked for most of the season in 2021 and the Sooners will play them in Nashville on Sept 3rd.

With only 13 Sooners on the roster, the team will need to be mostly injury free for the season. The roster is down 3 players from 2021. With what I consider only 4 returning starters from the 2021 squad, the Sooners will have to find 2 starters quickly.

Setters:

#4 - Peyton Dunn - 5'11" - Dunn was the starting 'Setter' in every match I believe in 2021 as a freshman. She performed at a high level in 2021 but will need to improve her play to help lift the Sooners to a top half Big 12 team.
#20 - Grace Talpash - 5'8" - Talpash (SR) appeared in a little over a third of the sets played. She mostly appeared as a spot server in 2021.
#2 - Peyton Chamberlain - 6'0" - Chamberlain is a transfer from Wyoming where she played as a freshman. Chamberlain played in about 3/4 of the sets for Wyoming. She looked to be a good all-around player for Wyoming looking at the stats.
Defensive Specialist:

#10 - Callie Kemohah - 5'6" - Kemohah played the vital 'libero' position as a freshman in 2021 will most likely fill that spot again in 2022. I thought Kemohah was a very good role player in 2021 for the Sooners and played injured the last part of the season.
#25 - Cloe Kaminski - 5'9" - Kaminski played at Blue Springs HS in 2021. She was ranked as the #85 recruit out of HS.
Outside Hitters:

#5 - Kristen Birmingham - 6'1" - Birmingham played in 3/4 of the sets for the Sooners. She played well at times as a freshman in 2021. She can be an effective blocker at times.
#9 - Savanah Davison - 5'10" - Davison is probably the best athlete on the squad. She has an incredible vertical leap on kills. She can also be effective on back line sets for kills. I think Davison has to pay a big role for the Sooners in 2022. With only 5 'back row' players, Davison is likely to be on the court a great deal playing both the front line and the back line. Davison had the 2nd most attempts for points in 2021 but her success % was low at .145. Davison needs to raise her % up to the .250 range in 2022.
#12 - Alexis Shelton - 6'1" - Shelton played in HS at Audrey Kell HS in North Carolina. Shelton was the #59 recruit out of HS in 2021. Expect her to push returning Sooners from Day 1 for the for front row playing time.
#23 - Taylor Preston - 6'2" - Preston is from Kentucky and St. Henry District HS. Preston was the #20 recruit form 2021 and should be considered for a starting role as a freshman as an OH.
Middle Blocker:

#1 - Kelsey Carrington - 6'3" - Carrington was very effective when she played for the Sooners IMO. She played in about a 1/3 of the sets in 2021. If she can stay healthy she could help the Sooners in 2022. She can move well laterally on the front line and does a good job blocking in the middle.
#17 - Taylor Alcorn - 6'0" - Alcorn was perhaps the best front line player of the bench at times in 2021. Though she is just 6'0", she is very effective as a blocker on the front row.
#21 - Morgan Perkins - 6"1" - Perkins is out of Episcopal HS on Rosharon, TX. Perkins is the #64 recruit from the HS ranks in the 2021 class. Again, another freshman will be pushing for playing time for the Sooners.
Middle Blocker/Outside Hitter:

#3 - Megan Wilson - 6'4" - Wilson was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year as an OH in 2021. Wilson has already been named to the 2022 All-Big 12 Preseason Team. Wilson was the key hitter for the Sooners in 2021. She will likely be the asked to be the same focus player on 2022. For the Sooners to rise up to the top half of the Big 12 teams in 2022, Wilson needs to become more effective in her attacks at the net. She will get the opportunities for points but she will need to raise her success % to above .250 in 2022. she as just under .200 in 2021.
I think that the players with the inside track to start in 2022 are Wilson OH, Carrington MB, Preston OH, Dunn S, Kemohah L, Davison OH.

I think Chamberlain and Kaminski will play on the back line during rotations. Especially if one has a strong serving game. Both Alcorn and Birmingham will get their time on the front line as MB/OH as well as Perkins and Shelton at MB/OH. Talpash will be a situational server and back row player who is a good athlete also.

The important things for the Sooners to improve in 2022 are their service game. It is very important for the Sooners to lower their service errors and increase the service aces. In 2021 they had 106 to 219 aces to errors. Those two stats need to equalize closer together. As mentioned above the successful kill % needs to improve to limit the number of points lost in each set.

I think the offense needs to include more back sets at the net, middle sets and right OH sets. In 2021, only Paige Andersen was used on all but a couple of the back sets at the net. The Sooners need to find others to use on that play. The middle set and the quick middle set also need to be used more instead of the 85% of the time setting the ball outside left. Quick set to the Right OH or just normal sets to the R OH also need to be added to the plan. With Davison's athletic ability and maybe one of the freshman players, finding times to use the back line sets to attach the net would help also. The more diverse the Sooner offense is, the more success they will likely have.

I am looking forward to the volleyball season and will be there unless the matches at McCasland Field House are in conflict with softball or baseball events.

Boomer Sooner!
AustinTXSooner
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Post by AustinTXSooner »

We seem to have lost 3 players who contributed a lot last year, but had some eligibility left: Anthony, Littlejim, and Harty. I'm also surprised that Davison had eligibility left. I thought she was already a super senior last year.

For the front line, Carrington, Wilson, Davison, and Alcorn got a lot of playing time last year. On the left side, Wilson and Davison were essentially rotating at that position. I wonder if one of them is going to move to the right side this year. Birmingham got some playing time last year as well. Then we have the freshmen: Shelton, Perkins, and Preston. Alcorn was a bit of an undersized middle blocker last year, but she played well. Our height is Carrington and Wilson. They still have Wilson listed as MB/OH, but I don't remember seeing her play middle blocker last year. Based on last year, I would think that it will be Wilson/Davison on the left, Carrington/Alcorn in the middle, and Birmingham on the right. The freshmen are all highly rated, so they shouldn't have any problem taking over a spot or two. Preston is the highest rated one coming in and she can hit from either side.

On the back row, Kaminski is the only new one coming in. I have to think that Dunn will remain the setter and that Kemohah the Libero. Chamberlain is a 6-foot setter that transferred in from Wyoming. The only other setter I see on the roster is Grace Talpash. Holy crap! 5 back-row players? I saw Wilson and Carrington serve last year, they might have to play more back row this year. Losing Littlejim here hurts because she was a 6 rotation player. If we have any kind of injuries this year, we're in trouble.
OUBeliever56A
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

AustinTXSooner wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:35 pm We seem to have lost 3 players who contributed a lot last year, but had some eligibility left: Anthony, Littlejim, and Harty. I'm also surprised that Davison had eligibility left. I thought she was already a super senior last year.

For the front line, Carrington, Wilson, Davison, and Alcorn got a lot of playing time last year. On the left side, Wilson and Davison were essentially rotating at that position. I wonder if one of them is going to move to the right side this year. Birmingham got some playing time last year as well. Then we have the freshmen: Shelton, Perkins, and Preston. Alcorn was a bit of an undersized middle blocker last year, but she played well. Our height is Carrington and Wilson. They still have Wilson listed as MB/OH, but I don't remember seeing her play middle blocker last year. Based on last year, I would think that it will be Wilson/Davison on the left, Carrington/Alcorn in the middle, and Birmingham on the right. The freshmen are all highly rated, so they shouldn't have any problem taking over a spot or two. Preston is the highest rated one coming in and she can hit from either side.

On the back row, Kaminski is the only new one coming in. I have to think that Dunn will remain the setter and that Kemohah the Libero. Chamberlain is a 6-foot setter that transferred in from Wyoming. The only other setter I see on the roster is Grace Talpash. Holy crap! 5 back-row players? I saw Wilson and Carrington serve last year, they might have to play more back row this year. Losing Littlejim here hurts because she was a 6 rotation player. If we have any kind of injuries this year, we're in trouble.
I agree about losing Anthony and Littlejim. I thought Harty was a Senior last year and I think I remember her being announced as a senior playing in her last season on Senior night. I always thought Anthony played well on the back row. I think Littlejim did also but she was playing a bit out of position on the front row.

With only those 5 back row players it will be important to find a front line player or two that can play back there after they serve.

I also do not remember Wilson playing in the middle. But I do like that idea I think. The other team would have to honor her presence in the middle every time. I might free up some one-on-one attacks on the sides.
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