The OU volleyball team will face Texas A&M in College Station for the last time as Big 12 foes at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Sooners held steady at No. 22 in this week’s AVCA coaches poll while Texas A&M received 16 votes and was the sixth team outside the polls.
Oklahoma comes into Wednesday’s match off a 3-1 loss Saturday night at No. 15 Iowa State. The Sooners hit only .157 for the match against the Cyclones.
OU coach Santiago Restrepo said mental errors ultimately cost the Sooners the match.
“We did some very good things,” Restrepo said. “I think we just had too many errors. Both teams went back and forth on defense, picked a lot of balls up.”
Restrepo said it is tough to keep the mentality that one game doesn’t make the season irrelevant, but it’s something the team has to do in order to move forward from its first conference loss.
“Obviously, it’s tough because one of our goals was to win the Big 12 championship, and obviously, this is a little setback,” Restrepo said.
The Sooners and the Aggies have split the past two season series. OU won in College Station in 2009 but dropped a 3-1 decision last season.
Restrepo said the team is developing a better road mentality, but it still has to concentrate on playing through the entire set.
“I think the bottom line is you have to be extremely concentrated and be very disciplined all the way to the end,” Restrepo said. “That’s one thing we have to learn to make sure that we maintain our concentration all the way to 25 points.”
This could be OU’s last trip to College Station for a long time since A&M is joining the SEC, and Restrepo said the team wants to leave the Aggies with a parting gift.
“We want to send them with a loss, but they’re going to be extremely tough to beat,” Restrepo said.
AT A GLANCE: Texas A&M Aggies
• 2011 record: 14-4 (3-2)
• Last game: Beat Kansas, 3-2, on Saturday in Lawrence
• Last game vs. OU: Beat the Sooners, 3-1, in College Station in 2010
• Key players: Senior OH Kelsey Black (3.61 kills/set, 3.25 digs/set), junior MB Lindsey Miller (2.56 kills/set, 0.98 blocks/set), junior OH/MB Alisia Kastmo (2.56 kills/set)
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