GAINESVILLE, FL - The Oklahoma volleyball became the first team in the country to advance to the NCAA Second Round as it beat Florida A&M, 3-1 (30-25, 32-30, 29-31, 30-14), in opening-round action Thursday night in the Gainesville Sub-Regional.Oklahoma and Florida A&M kicked off the NCAA Tournament as it was the first match played in the 64-team field with the Gainesville Sub-Regional beginning first round action on Thursday and all other sub-regionals opening on Friday.
The win advanced OU to the second round against the winner of the Florida vs. College of Charleston match which was set for Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. (CST). OU's second round match will begin at 6 p.m. (CST) on Friday with the winner advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 next week, which will also be held in Gainesville.
"It is always great to advance to the second round in the NCAA Tournament," head coach Santiago Restrepo said. "I thought it was a very interesting match as far as defense was concerned because we matched up very evenly on that side of the ball. I was also pleased offensively as we had four different players with double-digit kills which means setter Julie Chester did a good job distributing the ball."
The Sooners offense was the difference in the match as it recorded a .241 hitting percentage compared to FAMU's .096 clip. The other factor in the match was OU's blocking as the Sooners out blocked the Rattlers, 13.5 to five.
Senior outside hitter Mariana Blum led the Oklahoma offense with 21 kills while sophomore Bridget Laplante followed with 15. Blum and Laplante also tallied double-doubles as it marked Blum's 18th of the season and Laplante's 15th. Adding to the OU offense was Anna Stadel with 13 kills and Francie Ekwerekwu with 12 kills.
Senior Hannah Sharp had her best defensive outing of her career as she collected a career-high 31 digs and became the first Sooner to collect 30 digs in a match all season.
Four different Sooners were stellar in the front as Ekwerekwu and Blum recorded five block assists and a solo block each. Stadel also added five block assists and freshman Chrissy Disarro came in and gave a boost to the defense with five block assists. Disarro, a middle blocker, filled in for opposite hitter Sarah Weiland who left the match early in the first game due to an illness.
The Rattlers jumped out to a 4-1 lead to open the first frame, but the Sooners went on a 5-1 run to take the lead at 6-5. The two squads continued to battle it out back and forth as OU took the 15-14 lead prior to the media timeout. The Sooners put together a 4-1 run to take the 19-15 lead after the break and forced the Rattlers to call a timeout. While OU didn't let go of its lead, FAMU threatened as it closed the gap at 24-22. However, the Sooners went on a 3-1 run to take the four-point lead. The Sooners went on to claim the first frame, 30-25.
Blum led OU's offensive effort in the first frame as the Sooners recorded a .220 hitting percentage behind Blum's six kills while Stadel added four kills. Sharp led the back-row defensive effort with eight digs as the Sooners held the Rattlers to a .098 clip. Stadel also added two block assists to lead the OU defense up front.
The Sooners offense came out strong in the second frame as they opened the second game with a 7-3 lead, forcing the Rattlers to call an early time out. Oklahoma stretched its lead to 15-8, but the Rattlers went on a 5-0 run to cut the gap at 15-13. However, the Sooners maintained their composure and held on to the lead as they lead 17-15 and went on a 7-2 run to take the 23-17 lead. The Rattlers wouldn't go away as they tied the match up at 28-28, marking the first tie since 2-2 to open the game. The tie forced the Sooners to call their first timeout of the game and the Rattlers followed that with a kill to take the 29-28 lead.
However, OU battled back as well with an Ekwerekwu kill and Chrissy Disarro and Blum teamed up for a block assist to give OU the 30-29 advantage. FAMU followed that with a setter dump to tie the match up and OU responded with back-to back kills by Blum to give OU the 32-30 win in frame two and the 2-0 advantage in the match.
Blum was once again the offensive leader in the second frame as she notched seven kills on a .312 hitting percentage while Laplante added five kills. Ekwerekwu led the squad to three team blocks with a solo block and a block assist.
Oklahoma opened the third set with a 2-1 lead, but had to play catch up from there as the Rattlers led 15-12 before the media timeout was called. OU used a 5-2 run to even up the score at 17-17 and the two teams continued to trade points and tied it up again at 21-21. After tying it up again at 23-23, OU took the lead at 24-23 and held on to it until the Rattlers tied it up again at 28-28. The Rattlers took the momentum after taking the 29-28 lead with a kill and forcing an OU timeout. Blum came back with a kill to tie the game again, but FAMU responded with a kill to take the lead at 30-29. The Rattlers added another kill to take game three and force a game four.
The Sooners opened the fourth frame with momentum and a large lead as it held the 15-6 advantage before the media timeout was called. However, the Oklahoma offense rolled in the fourth frame as it dominated the match, 30-14, and closed out the frame with a 5-0 run. The Sooner offense was much more steady in the final game as it tallied a .412 hitting percentage.
The winner of Friday night's match will advance to Regionals in Gainesville, Fla., the following weekend (Dec. 7-8) against the four-team pod hosted by Texas in Austin. That four-team field includes No. 4 overall seed Texas, LSU, New Mexico State and Texas State.
Volleyball Box Score
Florida A&M vs #21 Oklahoma (Nov 29, 2007 at Gainesville, Fla.)
Florida A&M ATTACK SET SERVE SRVDEF BLOCK GEN
## Name GP K E TA PCT A SA SE REDIGBS BA BEBHEPOINTS
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5 CORZO,Cinthya....... 4 0 2 8 -.250 1 0 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0.0
9 GOMEZ,Maria......... 4 6 3 22 .136 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 6.5
10 MANZO,Zaira......... 4 3 3 12 .000 55 1 2 0 13 0 1 0 2 4.5
12 UCKELMANN,Hannah.... 4 9 1 25 .320 0 0 0 0 7 0 2 0 0 10.0
15 BLAZESKI,Jovana..... 4 18 15 58 .052 2 0 1 0 13 1 1 0 1 19.5
16 LAKIC,Iva........... 4 27 18 92 .098 0 0 0 0 14 1 1 0 1 28.5
6 PENNICK,Chelsa...... 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
7 EGOAVIL,Susan....... 4 0 0 1 .000 3 0 2 1 27 0 0 0 0 0.0
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Totals.............. 4 63 42 218 .096 61 1 5 1 94 2 6 0 4 69.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 14 9 51 .098 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS
2 15 9 57 .105 Florida A&M......... (1) 25 30 31 14 18-8
3 24 13 64 .172 Oklahoma............ (3) 30 32 29 30 22-9
4 10 11 46 -.022
Oklahoma ATTACK SET SERVE SRVDEF BLOCK GEN
## Name GP K E TA PCT A SA SE REDIGBS BA BEBHEPOINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Chester, Julie...... 4 2 0 6 .333 62 0 3 0 11 0 1 0 1 2.5
3 Stadel, Anna........ 4 13 6 29 .241 0 1 1 0 2 0 5 0 0 16.5
6 Weiland, Sarah...... 2 3 1 9 .222 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.0
9 Laplante, Bridget... 4 15 1 52 .269 0 0 1 0 17 1 0 0 0 16.0
11 Ekwerekwu, Francie.. 4 12 4 38 .211 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 1 0 15.5
13 Blum, Mariana....... 4 21 6 53 .283 3 0 6 0 19 1 5 0 0 24.5
5 Barnes, Lacy........ 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 0 7 0 0 0 0 0.0
12 Disarro, Chrissy.... 3 3 3 12 .000 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 1 1 5.5
14 Sharp, Hannah....... 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 1 31 0 0 0 0 0.0
15 Harbster, Taylor.... 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 4 69 21 199 .241 67 1 13 1 89 3 21 2 2 83.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 6 50 .220 Site: Gainesville, Fla. (O'Connell Center)
2 21 7 60 .233 Date: Nov 29, 2007 Attend: Time: 2:10
3 15 6 55 .164 Referees: Mike Carter, Kim Wisham
4 16 2 34 .412 NCAA Gainesville Sub-Regional Match 1
1 2 3 4 Total
Tie scores 8 5 12 2 27
Lead changes 5 3 4 1 13
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Blogger's Comments:
It appears that FAMU is expecting a miracle from Coach Tanio Trifonov to get the Lady Rattlers past Round One of the NCAA Tournament. Clearly, the Rattlers are undermanned with eight players, whereas, all the non-MEAC teams are stocked with 14-15 scholarship players. The Rattlers are MEAC champions and well respected by the major volleyball programs, but the lack of depth is the Rattlers significant weakness. FAMU and coach Tony has the potential of winning a national championship in volleyball, if only the number of scholarships are increased from 7-8 to a realistic number like 12-15.
Although FAMU has won 99 consecutive matches in the conference, seven straight MEAC championships and eight championships in the last nine years, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is closing ground on the Rattlers with a 24-4 record in '07. The Hawks lost the '07 MEAC championship to FAMU by a score of 3-1 and have a roster of 12 American players (only one senior) and an associate head coach.
Jovana Blazeski deserves the iron lady award as she has played with a twisted knee (in MEAC championship games) and a torn ACL in her left knee. Not only is the Rattlers squad stocked with the MEAC Coach of the year, Tony Trifonov, MEAC Rookie of the Year, Jovana Blazeski and the MEAC outstanding tournament player, Iva Lakic, but All MEAC tournament players Lakic and sophomore setter Ziara Monzo. Only Hannah Uckelmann and Iva Lakic are seniors, which makes the accomplishments of the volleyball team amazing considering its youth and numbers.
Volleyball could become a self-supporting sport with a visionary athletic director that will aggressively promote the sport. FAMU has an international market available in TLH and cross-over fans at the other school that has shown an interest in the sport. But, Coach Tony needs help in the form of more scholarship players if FAMU expects to advance beyond round one. This team should be built to defeat the UF Gators, if our expectations are for a national championship. Otherwise, without some minor upgrades, we will be battling for the #2 position in the MEAC and will be sitting at home like UMES come NCAA Tournament time next season.
How about an early season volleyball tournament next year with Alabama A&M University (SWAC), Tennessee State University (OVC) and University of Maryland Eastern Shore? AAMU and TSU won their respective conferences this season and may provide a higher level of competition and fan interest in TLH than Mercer or North Florida.
Tonight, fatigue won first and Oklahoma was able to capitalize on our lack of bench strength.
The Lady Rattlers end with 18-8 for 2007.
Great job Coach Tony and Lady Rattlers. Thanks a million!!!
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