University of Missouri
Baylor
Missouri Opens Conference Play with Victory
9/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 17, 2003
WACO, Texas -- - Mizzou opened the Big 12 Conference season by defeating Baylor in what turned out to be an exciting four-game match. After dominating the first two games, the Tigers had to battle Baylor in the next two games to claim the 3-1 (30-20, 30-11, 25-30, 33-31) win.
Mary Lauren Smith and Shen Danru led the Tigers as each recorded double-doubles. Smith had a season-high 21 kills and a career-high 11 digs, while Danru also had 21 kills, along with 17 digs.
Missouri took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 30-22 game one win behind Smith's nine kills and .727 hitting percentage. Smith also led the team in digs in the opening game with four. With the game tied at three, MU went on a 9-1 run to build a lead and led by as many as 12 at one point. The Tigers hit .324 in the opening game compared to a .024 mark for Baylor.
Mizzou dominated game two, jumping out to an 11-0 lead and cruising to a 30-11 win. Missouri continued to dominate at the net, hitting .458 in the second game, while holding the Bears to a -.071 mark. Danru helped build the large lead by recording four aces in the game. She finished the match with five aces.
Game three was a different story as Baylor picked up the 30-25 win to force a game four. Despite holding the lead for most of the game, MU lost the lead to the Bears at 25-24 and BU held on for the win.
The back-and-forth battle continued in the fourth game as the lead switch hands several times. Baylor had game point at 29-28 but could not convert. Missouri, on its third game point, finally put the Bears away by taking the 33-31 win to close out the match.
The Tigers improve to 8-2 on the season and 1-0 in the Big 12. Baylor falls to 6-6 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The conference home opener for the Tigers will be this Saturday. The match will start one hour following the completion of the MU vs. Middle Tennessee State football game, which starts at 1 p.m. The volleyball match is expected to begin around 5 p.m. Tickets will be $ 2 for fans who have a ticket stub from the football game.
