Facing arguably its toughest non-conference schedule to date, the OU volleyball team gave fans a mixed bag in this weekend’s Sooner Legends/Nike Invitational. But in the end, the Sooners showed they can hang with one of the best teams the nation has to offer.

The action started on Friday with the Sooners splitting their first two matches against Michigan State and Wichita State. After that, the Sooners were barely edged out by No. 10 Cal Poly 3-2 (16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 11-15) Saturday afternoon at Howard McCasland Field House in the tournament final.

The Sooners (1-2) hung tough with Cal Poly during the match’s final set, but a late 3-0 run gave the seasoned Mustang squad a cushion OU was unable to overcome. Still, the women learned a great deal about their progress as a team, even in defeat.

“Whenever you go to five games against the No. 10 team in the country, it’s great,” head coach Santiago Restrepo said. “Now we know what it takes and what we need to do to perform at a high level.”

The offensive attack was led by sophomore middle blocker and preseason All-Big 12 selection Francie Ekwerekwu, who finished the two-day event with 36 kills and a .371 attack percentage. The Arlington, Texas, native received all-tournament team honors for her efforts. Having been apart of big-game atmospheres in the past, Ekwerekwu said she wasn’t thrown off by the prospect of playing a top-10 team this early into the season.

“Any team can show up and beat any team on any given day, so I don’t really consider them No. 10,” Ekwerekwu said. “I just look at them as Cal Poly. From the start, I believed we could beat them and I think we showed we are capable of beating a team like them.”

Defensively, sophomore middle blocker Christy Disarro was a brick wall behind the net. She made the best out of her season debut, chalking up a tournament-high 11.5 blocks – five solo and 13 assisted. The veteran play of junior outside hitter Bridget Laplante and senior libero Lacy Barnes kept the Sooners alive, as the two finished the tournament with 55 and 51 digs, respectively. Laplante had a pair of double-doubles in tournament play.

The Sooners began their 2008 campaign introducing five new faces to the starting lineup, including two freshmen — setter Brianne Barker and outside hitter Caitlin Higgins. With much of this season’s success riding on the young team’s ability to gel and develop chemistry, the signs were there early on that the two freshmen could deliver in spades.

OU opened the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Michigan State (19-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-21), and it was the tandem of Barker and Higgins who sparked the offense in the opening match, teaming up for 13 kills.

“They came out with a few opening jitters,” Restrepo said. “But overall, they did very well for it being their first time in college.”

The two freshmen were given a taste of the big-time college atmosphere later that night, when the Sooners 3-0 loss (30-32, 13-25, 24-26) to Wichita State featured an opening set that had the near-700 fans in attendance in a frenzy for every dig and kill down the stretch. Featuring constant momentum shifts and high-energy rallies, the match’s opening stanza felt like a rivalry game.

“The crowd was great,” Ekwerekwu said. “It was just like having Texas here…it’s crazy because it’s loud, people are flying everywhere, balls are flying everywhere, but it’s so much fun. It’s the most fun place to be.”

The Sooners return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Los Angeles, Calif., to compete in the Trojan Invitational. They will see no lapse in competition, meeting Hofstra, No. 22 San Diego and No. 4 Southern California during the three-day event.