Mountaineers Set for No. 25 Oklahoma
October 31, 2014 05:49 PM | General
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| Evyn McCoy will finish her career as one of WVU's all-time blocking leaders. |
| Photo courtesy of WVU Photography |
NORMAN, Oklahoma – Attempting to regroup from a 3-1 setback at TCU, the West Virginia University volleyball team heads to Norman, Oklahoma, to face the No 25-ranked Oklahoma Sooners at McCasland Field House on Saturday evening. The Mountaineers (13-10, 3-6) and the Sooners (15-6, 6-2) will square off in an 8 p.m. (ET) match.
The two previously met back on October 8 at the WVU Coliseum, where OU took a 3-1 win. Jordan Anderson had 14 kills in the match, while Hannah Shreve contributed a team-best six block assists. WVU hit .067 in the match, its lowest clip of the season, tallying 45 kills and seven team blocks.
OU and WVU have met six times prior to this weekend in a series that began in 1999 with a neutral site nonconference match-up. The Sooners won the inaugural tilt 3-0, and have won all five Big 12 contests as well for a 6-0 series lead.
Oklahoma marks the fifth ranked team West Virginia has faced this season. The Mountaineers opened the season against then-No. 9 BYU, falling 3-0 to the Cougars. They also faced No. 13 UNC, taking a 3-0 loss in the Big 12-ACC Challenge, before playing a pair of ranked foes in conference play. WVU took the first two sets against No. 2 Texas before falling in five and also took No. 22 Kansas State to five sets last weekend.
The Mountaineers are coming off of a 3-1 loss at TCU on Wednesday. Anderson had a team-best 22 kills along with 10 digs for a double-double, while Nikki Attea recorded 13 kills. Lamprini Konstantinidou had 31 assists and hit .645 with five kills as West Virginia hit for a .191 clip with nine team blocks.
“We know that there are some things from the TCU match that we need to work on,” said WVU coach Jill Kramer. “OU is a talented team and we need to communicate more effectively. We’ve had a few days to work on that and I’m looking forward to seeing the improvements we’ve made. I know we’re capable of putting up a fight.”
Anderson set a new sophomore single-season record with 402 kills through 23 matches, besting the previous mark of 400 set by Nikki Hardy in 1998. The sophomore outside hitter is currently 145 kills shy of setting a new single-season record for total kills. The current mark is 545 and was set by Beth Hoffman in 1985.
Evyn McCoy is another Mountaineer meeting milestones, as she has moved up the program’s all-time career blocks list. The senior middle blocker boasts 363 total blocks in her career, ranking her eighth in West Virginia history. She needs 17 more to take over seventh place.
WVU will return home and following a bye on Wednesday, will host Iowa State at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday, November 8. The match is slated for a 4 p.m. start.
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