Nov. 20, 2001
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Tiger Seniors Say Farewell to Hearnes
The University of Missouri volleyball team will play its final home match of the 2001 season on Wednesday night when they welcome No. 19 Kansas State to the Hearnes Center. The Tigers enter Wednesday's match with the Wildcats winners of four of their last six matches, including their latest triumph, a 3-0 sweep of Texas Tech in Lubbock. With a 20-8 record and a 10-8 Big 12 mark, the Tigers are currently alone in fifth place in the Big 12 and hopes of an at large bid in the NCAA Tournament are very much a reality. With two regular season matches left to play, the Tigers face two very tough opponents this week. MU went 0-2 against its remaining opponents including a 3-2 heartbreaking to the Wildcats in Manhattan, Kan., and a 3-1 loss to the Baylor Bears on Oct. 6 at home.
Six seniors (Naaron Branson, Krista Johnson, Kristen Johnson, Nikki Myhra, Rachael Taylor and Katie Sowers) will play in the final home contest of their career on Wednesday. Since 1983 (the year the Tigers joined the Big 8), no MU class has recorded more wins during its four-year stint at MU or a better winning percentage than the class of 2001. The class of 2001 helped lead the Tigers to their first-ever NCAA Tournament last season and have posted a 44-15 overall record the past two seasons.
Four Tigers Named to Volleyball Academic All-Big 12 Team
DALLAS-The Big 12 Conference announced the names of 53 student-athletes who have been named to the 2001 Volleyball Academic All-Big 12 Team, the conference office announced Monday.
Among the 53 honored were four members of the University of Missouri volleyball team. Senior defensive specialists Katie Sowers and Rachael Taylor, and junior outside hitter Lisa Morris were named to the first team while senior outside hitter Naaron Branson was named to the second team. Taylor and Sowers are both three-time recipients of the honor while Branson and Morris have been named to the team twice.
Sowers currently is second on the team in digs per game (2.83) while Taylor leads the squad in service aces (36). Branson leads the Tigers in digs per game (3.43) and became only the second player in MU history to record 1000 kills and 1000 digs in her career. This is Morris' second award of the season. She was named to the Verizon Academic All-District VII first team earlier this month.
Tiger Tidbits
The University of Missouri volleyball team went 1-0 last week taking out Texas Tech, 3-0 in Lubbock, Texas...this marks the first time a Tiger team has won at Texas Tech in school history...with the sweep of the Red Raiders, the Tigers have now registered the first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1982 (26-6) and 1983 (26-11) after going 24-7 last year...the win was also historical for head coach Susan Kreklow. The victory over the Red Raiders was the 500th women's collegiate volleyball win of her career. She sports a 500-101 (.832 %) record coaching women's volleyball.
A Look at the Wildcats
The No. 18 Kansas State Wildcats enter Wednesday's contest as one of the hottest teams in the nation. KSU has won its last six matches and eight of its last 10. During that six-match streak, Kansas State has picked up wins over the likes of No. 21 Colorado and No. 13 Texas A&M, both of which were home matches.
2000 All-Big 12 First team selection and senior Liz Wegner continues to lead the offensive attack of the Wildcats averaging 4.51 kills per game. Fellow senior middle blocker Jayne Christen has been solid at the net averaging 1.22 blocks per game and had an outstanding night against A&M on Saturday night recording two block solos and seven block assists. First-year head coach Suzie Fritz has led the Wildcats to an 18-7 record and are now only one game behind Texas A&M in the loss column for second place.
K-State holds a 27-25 advantage in the all-time series. The Wildcats have won 14 of the last 15 matches between the two including the latest meeting, a 3-2 win over the Tigers in Manhattan, Kan., on Sept. 26.
500 and Counting
2000 Big 12 Coach of the Year Susan Kreklow took home her 500th career women's collegiate volleyball victory on Wednesday at Texas Tech. Susan and her husband, associate head coach Wayne Kreklow, lead the Tigers into action on Wednesday against the Wildcats. The Kreklows are in their second year at the helm of the Tigers and sport a 44-15 mark (.746 winning percentage) at MU. They also led Mizzou to one of the best seasons in school history in 2000 at 24-7 and the highest conference finish by a Mizzou squad in school history (2nd).
The Kreklows continued to rewrite the Tiger record books in 2001 as Susan Kreklow won her 550th career match when the Tigers swept Oklahoma earlier this season. However, the AVCA does not recognize both men's and women's volleyball victories when coaching them at the same time, which Susan did for three years winning 53 matches as the men's co-head coach with Wayne at Columbia College before coming to MU
Tigers Match with KSU Can Be Heard on 90.5 KWWC
The Missouri women's volleyball team will receive live coverage of four home events. The remaining match on the docket is the Kansas State match live on Wednesday night. All NCAA Tournament play by the Tigers will also be picked up. David Lile will call the action while former Tiger Jana VerBrugge will provide color commentary as the Tigers continue their quest for a birth in the NCAA Tournament.
Making a Statement
Junior middle blocker Christi Myers has been one of the Tigers. She is averaging 3.36 kills, 2.29 digs and 1.23 blocks per game and leads the Big 12 in solo blocks with 22. Myers has also recorded nine double-doubles this season.
The junior middle blocker boldly went where no Missouri Tiger volleyball player had gone in the past two seasons on Sept. 22 against Texas A&M. The 6-1, 2000 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection recorded the first triple-double of her career against Texas A&M (18 kills, 15 digs and 11 total blocks.)
The 2001 season has been a microcosm of Myers' career up to this point. Myers currently holds the second-highest career hitting percentage (.301) in MU history and jumped into third on the kills per game list (3.20). Myers is also rewriting the Mizzou career blocking books. She is fourth in solo blocks (73), fourth in block assists (247) and third in blocks per game (1.09).
Don't Get So Defensive
Senior Defensive specialist Katie Sowers continues to be a quality defensive stopper for the Tigers as they approach the end of the regular season. Since equaling a career-high with 18 digs vs. Texas on Oct. 17, Sowers has averaged 10.21 digs per match and has averaged 0.93 service winners per match. Sowers is currently second on the squad in total digs (286), digs per game (2.83) and is third in service aces (26).
Quick Like a Kat
After recording five service aces and 2.22 digs per game at the Tigers season opening tournament in West Virginia, junior defensive specialist Katherine Wingert (her teammates call her Kat) was sidelined with an injury for over month. Since returning to the Tiger line up on Oct. 22, Wingert had received situational playing time. However, with the injury to Lisa Morris, Wingert will be called upon to rotate into the back row and serve for Mizzou. She has executed that role very well the last two matches averaging 11.67 pickups per match over the last three matches.