West Virginia Caps Road Slate in Norman

NORMAN, Okla. – The West Virginia University volleyball team closes its 2019 road slate on Friday, Nov. 22, as the Mountaineers take on Oklahoma in a 7 p.m. ET league tilt, at McCasland Field House, in Norman, Oklahoma.

Friday's contest against the Sooners will be broadcasted live on SoonerSports.TV, with live video and stats links available on WVUsports.com.

"Oklahoma is a good team, and it's always tough playing on the road in the Big 12," fifth-year coach Reed Sunahara said. "Hopefully, we can show up tomorrow night and compete as hard as we can. If we do that, we can walk away with great results."

West Virginia (11-15, 2-11) and Oklahoma (17-8, 9-5) will meet for the second time this season and the 16th time in league play since WVU joined the Big 12 in 2012. OU boasts a 15-1 lead in the all-time series, with the Sooners claiming a 3-1 win in their most recent meeting held on Sept. 28, inside the WVU Coliseum. The two teams split the season series in 2017, as WVU topped OU in four sets on Oct. 13, 2017, for its first win over the Sooners in program history.

West Virginia suffered a pair of conference losses at the WVU Coliseum last week. WVU dropped a four-set match to TCU on Nov. 13, before falling in five sets to Texas Tech on Nov. 16.

A trio of Mountaineers posted double-digit kills against Texas Tech, as West Virginia recorded a season-high 69 kills to hit .304 in the five-set loss. Additionally, sophomore setter Lacey Zerwas dished out a career-high 62 assists to go along with eight digs, five kills and a trio of service aces in the match.

Through 26 matches, WVU is hitting .206 and averaging 12.6 kills per set. Junior middle blocker Briana Lynch owns a team-high hitting percentage of .315 to rank fourth in the Big 12, while senior outside hitter Katelyn Evans leads WVU with 3.30 kills per set to rank sixth. Evans has recorded double-digit kills in 13 of the last 14 matches and is on pace to eclipse her 1,000th career kill in her final season as a Mountaineer. The Palmdale, California, native boasts 970 kills and is 30 short of the career milestone.

Additionally, Zerwas quarterbacks the Mountaineer offense, ranking fifth in the Big 12 with 10.18 assists per set. Junior defensive specialist Alexa Hasting anchors WVU's floor defense, averaging 4.10 digs per set to rank second in the league.

Oklahoma has won two of its last three matches, most recently picking up a 3-0 win at Kansas State on Nov. 20. The Sooners produce one of the best defenses in the Big 12 Conference, ranking inside the top five of three defensive categories: first in digs (16.27 d/s), second in opponent hitting percentage (.171) and fourth in blocks (2.43 b/s).

Senior middle blocker Brianna Kadiku (1.31 b/s) and junior defensive specialist Keyton Kinley (5.01 d/s) sit atop the league in their respective categories. Offensively, outside hitter Ashlynn Dunhar has proven herself as OU's go-to hitter this season with 987 attempts. The graduate transfer leads the team with 4.08 points per set and 3.61 kills per set.

The Mountaineers will make their way back to the WVU Coliseum to welcome Baylor (Nov. 26) and Kansas (Nov. 30) the week of Thanksgiving to cap their regular season.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Katelyn Evans

Alexa Hasting

Briana Lynch

Lacey Zerwas

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