University of Missouri
Ole Miss
Medrano Powers Volleyball Over Ole Miss
8/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Tiger newcomer Rosa Medrano (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) powered the Tigers past Ole Miss, 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) in the fifth match of the Tiger Invitational. With the win, the Tigers will square off against BYU for the Tiger Invitational title tonight (Aug. 29) at 6:30 p.m. at the Hearnes Center.
Medrano led the Tigers with 19 kills and 14 digs while hitting .424, all career-best stats. Medrano's .424 hitting percentage was one of the key reasons that the Tigers were able to hit .333 as a team, an improvement from last night's match when they hit .149 against Texas State.
"In all I was very pleased today; you can tell we played much better today than last night," head coach Wayne Kreklow. "Our hitting percentage - .333 - is indicative of how well we attacked and our offense just had a better match today. We still need to spread out our attacking because we can't just rely on one player, but overall it was a great match and I am looking forward to playing BYU tonight."
Medrano and the Tigers roared out of the gate in set one, building a 12-5 advantage behind kills from five different players, two of which belonged to Medrano. Mizzou would build its advantage to 17-10 and would never relinquish the lead as Medrano proved to be too much from the left side as she posted seven kills in the first set while hitting .385 as the Tigers took the first set, 25-19. Senior Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) also made her presence felt in the first set as she posted three kills while hitting .333 while chipping in two block assists. The Tiger duo combined to overcome six kills from Ole Miss' Caitlin Weiss in the first set.
Brittany Brimmage (East St. Louis, Mo.) and Lei Wang-Francisco (Shanghai, China) each pitched in a pair of kills while the Tiger back row combined for 14 digs, paced by five from libero Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.).
The second set saw the Tigers take an early lead as they claimed an 12-9 advantage, thanks in large part to Catie Wilson (Ohama, Neb.), Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) and Medrano who each posted a pair of kills during that span. In all, Mizzou posted 17 kills in the set while Wang-Francisco assisted on 16 of those kills, a set-high for the Tiger setter this season. Wang-Francisco distributed the ball to a variety of targets in the second, helping the Tigers earn the second-set win, 25-22. Medrano moved her match kill total to 13 after posting six more in the second while adding seven digs. Klein finished the set with four kills while Wilson pitched in three. Brimmage and Hantouli each added a pair of kills in the second while the team hit a match-best .400 in the set.
The third was the closest set of the three and saw Ole Miss on top late in the set at 20-18. But unforced errors from the Rebels helped Mizzou pull even at 20. From there, kills from Klein and Medrano, along with a service ace from Vann, pulled the Tigers away as they would claim the final set, and the match, after winning the third 25-22.
Medrano shined once again for Mizzou, posted six kills and seven digs in the third. Brimmage and Wilson each added a pair of kills to their stat lines, giving them each six kills in the match. Wang-Francisco handed out 13 assists in the third frame and added six digs. In all, Wang-Francisco finished the match with 41 assists, three kills and three digs. She also hit .286.
The Tigers will meet BYU in what has turned into the championship match of the Tiger Invitational as both teams are a perfect 2-0 on the weekend. The match is slated to being at 6:30 p.m. Live video/audio along with gametracker can be found at www.mutigers.com.
