Sooners (and Golden Eagles) eyeing NCAAs (TW 11-23-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Sooners (and Golden Eagles) eyeing NCAAs

By LYNN JACOBSEN World Sports Writer

11/23/2006

Oral Roberts has locked up an NCAA volleyball tournament bid and it?s just a matter of time for Oklahoma.

The Sooners enter the final week of the regular season ranked 13th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

OU?s turnaround from 7-22 last year to 25-5 this year has been a pleasant surprise for coach Santiago Restrepo.

?I?m extremely happy with what we have accomplished so far,? said the Sooners coach. ?This is our best finish in the Big 12 and we even beat Texas for the first time.?

Joanna Schmitt leads the team in kills (4.28 per game) and digs (3.05) while Eliane Santos is tops in blocks (1.54).

Setter Rachel Jackson is the team leader in assists (13.62).

Restrepo said for the Sooners to advance in the tournament, they must not look ahead.

?Our motto is one point, one game, one match,? he said. ?We don?t put any pressure on ourselves.

We won?t look back and we won?t look ahead.

?This is a sweet taste for our seniors. Last year we had a team that could finish in the top half of the conference and we were second to last. So we just want to savor the success.?

ORU locked up its ninth trip to the NCAA?s and first since 2002 by winning the Mid-Continent Conference tournament over the weekend.

The Golden Eagles had already wrapped up the regular season title.

The NCAA bid is the first for seniors Maja Devic, Kim Snow, Ori Zuzic, Cris Alves and Brittany Arnold.

?For four years, we?ve worked hard and now these seniors have finally done it,? head coach Sheera Sirola said. ?It?s a nice reward for the seniors.?

Zuzic averaged 4.85 kills and 2.91 digs per game to earn the Mid-Con co-player of the year.

She owns both the school and league record for kills and aces, and is just the third player in league history to win back-toback Player of the Year awards.

Sirola, who played on the 1995 squad that reached the Elite Eight, said the key to her teams success is team play.

?If we have one player not playing well, we are not winning,? Sirola said. ?But if they all play, absolutely we can win anything we want. We don?t rely on one or two players, we have to have everyone.?

Tulsa had high hopes of making the tournament as well. The Golden Hurricane (27-7) claimed the school?s first-ever Conference USA championship, but lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

While head coach Ed Allen didn?t rule out the possibility of an at-large bid, he did acknowledge it would be difficult.

?Its hard to say,? Allen said.

Our RPI was at 70 last week.

There?s an outside chance, but not an overly-favorable chance.

?It was a fun season. We broke a number of records and we won the school?s first conference title.

Tulsa was led by C-USA setter of the year Julia Silva (12.02 assists per game). Outside hitters Kassiana Urnau (4.15 kills) and Germana Hilario (3.37 kills) and middle blocker Fabiola Nepomuceno (0.75 blocks per game) earned second-team honors.