Sophomore setter Payton Chamberlain transferred to Oklahoma from Wyoming this season and has been on fire for the Sooners the last eight matches.
She ranks top five in the Big 12 in assists per match with 10.50 and over the last eight matches she has had at least 20 assists per match.
“She’s such a critical part of the team,” head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton said Thursday. “She touches the ball every time and not just from the standpoint of delivering the ball, but how they make people feel around her. She can be the straw that stirs the drink for this team.”
Chamberlain attended Byron Nelson High School in Fort Worth, where she was coached by former OU standout Brianne Barker. Barker made the All-Big 12 first team in 2010 and 2011 and ended her Sooners career ranked third in program history in both assists and digs.
Before transferring to OU, Chamberlain appeared in 83 sets over 24 matches at Wyoming, tallying 481 assists. In one match against Utah State, she had a ridiculous 48. In 14 matches she recorded at least 15 assists and in three of them 40 plus assists before entering the transfer portal.
“When she was transitioning through the decision to come here, the referral of Barker and the connection they had played a factor in her coming here,” Gray-Walton said.
In just her fourth match for the Sooners against Fresno State, Chamberlain tallied a season high 41 assists. In her last match against Kansas, she recorded a season high nine digs. Even with these accomplishments, she still has an open ear as she wants to keep developing her game.
“She is an unbelievable listener and embraces that I get to do volleyball, rather than I have to do volleyball mentality, “Gray-Walton said. “So whether she is having a bad day or a good one, she will always bring that competitive nature and that get to play mindset that just makes it easy to be around her and to coach her.”
Chamberlain will look to help OU notch its first conference win of the season when the Sooners host West Virginia at 1 p.m. Saturday in Norman.
“We are glad she is here with us at Oklahoma,” Gray-Walton said, “and I look forward to seeing how her game progresses with her hard work ethic throughout the season.”
