University of Missouri
IUPUI
Tiger Volleyball Wins First Match of Best Inns Invitational
9/7/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 7, 2001
Carbondale, Ill-The University of Missouri volleyball team continued to play well during its pre-Big 12 schedule sweeping the IUPUI Jaguars, 3-1 at the Best Inns Invitational in Carbondale, Ill. Friday. Mizzou is now 5-0 on the season and is 12-0 over the past two seasons in regular season tournaments.
The Tigers showed some signs of travel fatigue in Game 1, arriving in Carbondale earlier in the day. IUPUI played well and seemed to have an answer to every Mizzou run, trailing at 20-17. However, the Tigers would go on a 10-7 run to end the stanza and take Game 1, 30-24. Lisa Morris paced Mizzou with seven Game 1 kills and also recorded a service ace.
In Game 2, IUPUI would jump out to a 6-5 lead. The Tigers would then go on a13-5 run of their own and grab an 18-11 lead and would not look back taking the game, 30-16. Game 3 started very similarly to Game 2 with the Jaguars staking to an 8-5 lead. Mizzou would once again fight back though, tying the game at 15. IUPUI would then grab a lead at 21-17, prompting an MU timeout. Following the timeout, Mizzou would go on 5-1 run, tying the match at 22 apiece. The Jags would battle and take the game from the Tigers though, 33-31. The Game 3 loss was the first regular season game the Tigers had lost since Nov. 25 of 2000 vs. Colorado.
Game 4 saw the dogfight continue. The Tigers and Jags traded points and opened the game in a 16-16 tie. Mizzou would then make a 9-3 run taking a 25-19 lead. The Jags would storm back to within two at 26-24, but Mizzou would hold on to take the game, 30-27 and take the match, 3-1.
Junior Lisa Morris recorded a season-high 26 kills, 11 digs, one service aceand a .377 hitting percentage. Mary Lauren Smith played her best match of her young Tiger career with 11 kills and five digs while fellow sophomore Chrissy Elder handed out 34 assists and 15 digs.
Head coach Susan Kreklow said that the physical effort was very good from the Tigers, but that the Tigers need to be mentally more ready to play from the opening serve.
"We worked hard today and gave a solid effort but mentally we were not sharp," Kreklow said. "We need to improve on our execution and be much more prepared for tomorrow."
The Tigers improve to 5-0 overall and 0-0 in the Big 12 Conference. Mizzou will take on Western Kentucky tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 2:00 p.m. CST and will then face host-school Southern Illinois at 7:00 p.m. CST.
