Aug. 29, 2002
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The Tigers open the 2002 campaign on the road in Corvallis, Ore. at the Oregon State Volleyball Showcase. The tournament features two teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season (Missouri and Oregon State). Idaho and Idaho State round out the participating teams. Mizzou has traveled to Corvallis once before, taking part in the OSU Showcase in 1999. The Tigers finished third in the tournament that year. The opening game of this year's tournament will feature Missouri against Idaho State at 5 p.m. PST on Friday. The Tigers will then face Idaho on Saturday at 10 a.m. PST before taking on Oregon State at 7:30 p.m. PST. The Tigers will be looking for their first win over each of the other three teams in this weekend's tournament. MU is 0-1 against each team. Idaho State defeated MU 3-1 in 1989, Idaho downed the Tigers 3-1 in 1989 and Oregon State defeated Mizzou 3-1 in 1999.
SCOUTING THE BENGALS
Idaho State is coming off an 11-18 season in 2001 and return seven letterwinners and six starters from last year's team. The Bengals hold a 1-0 lead in the all-time series with Mizzou, defeating the Tigers 3-1 in 1989 in the only meeting between the two schools. Third year coach Mike Welch has compiled a 20-39 record in his previous two years at ISU.
SCOUTING THE VANDALS
The Idaho Vandals were 11-19 last season. They enter the 2002 season with a young squad as they return only five members of the 2001 team this season and welcome five freshman to the team. Head Coach Debbie Buchman enters her third year as IU's head coach. She has compiled a 27-32 record in her first two season with the Vandals. The Tigers are 0-1 in the all-time series with Idaho. In 1989, The Vandals defeated MU 3-1.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
Like Missouri, the OSU Beavers advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year, finishing with a 17-12 record. They lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Eastern Washington in five games. Nancy Somera begins year number four as the head coach of Oregon State and has a 41-46 career record. Oregon State defeated the Tigers 3-1 in the only meeting between the two teams in 1999. That matchup also took place at the OSU Volleyball Showcase and was the last time MU made an appearance in Corvallis.
SENIOR CLASS AIMS FOR RECORD
The 2002 senior class has amassed a career record of 54-39 heading into its final year at Mizzou. Seniors Christi Myers, Lisa Morris and Katherine Wingert are on pace to finish with the best record of any senior class at Missouri. Last year's graduating class finished 68-58, which is the best to date in Tiger volleyball history.
LOOKING UP TO THE TIGERS
The 2002 Tigers are one of the tallest, if not the tallest teams in MU history. Of the 13 players on the roster, seven are over six feet tall, and three are 6-2 or taller. Redshirt freshman Lindsey Noll is not only the tallest player on the team, she is the tallest player in Missouri volleyball history at 6-5. Other six footers include, Lisa Boyd and Loretta McGovern at 6-2, Christi Myers and Mary Lauren Smith are 6-1 and Lisa Morris and Jenny Duitsman are listed at 6-0.
BIG 12 COACHES RANK TIGERS THIRD
The Missouri volleyball team has been picked third in the Big 12 Conference Coaches' Preseason Poll. The poll, which is voted on by the conference head coaches, has the Tigers tied with Colorado with 72 points. Nebraska received 10 of the 11 first place votes (coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team). Texas A&M was second, followed by MU and Colorado. Last season the Tigers finished fifth in the league behind Nebraska, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Colorado. Also announced were the Big 12 Conference Preseason Team, Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Missouri redshirt freshman Shen Danru was voted the conference Newcomer of the Year. Danru is an outside hitter from Shanghai, China.
MIZZOU RECEIVES 58 VOTES IN USA TODAY/AVCA POLL
In the USA Today/AVCA Preseason Poll, the Tiger volleyball team received 58 votes and is ranked 34th. Four Big 12 School are ranked in the Top 25 and four received votes. A total of seven MU opponents are either ranked or received votes in the poll. Oregon State, who the Tigers will face on Saturday night, received 7 votes in the poll.
MU ROSTER TAKES ON A UNITED NATIONS LOOK
The Tiger roster has an international flavor with Shen Danru of Shangai, China and Juliana Godoi of Sao Paulo, Brazil joining the team. Danru is the first player in MU history originally from the Eastern Hemisphere. She has already recieved recognition, being chosen by the Big 12 Conference coaches at the Conference Preseason Newcomer of the Year. Godoi transferred to Mizzou from Columbia College. She was a third team All-American at Columbia College and was on the 1999 Cougar National Championship team coached by Susan and Wayne Kreklow. The Tigers assistant coaches Deng Yang and Chen Feng are both natives of China and each were members of the Chinese National Team.
TIGER FANS HEAD TO THE HEARNES
Since Susan and Wayne Kreklow have taken over at Missouri, attendance at MU volleyball matches has grown rapidly. In just two season, the average attendance has increased an amazing 241%. Nine of the top ten crowds in Tiger volleyball history have taken place at the Hearnes Center in the two seasons since the Kreklows have arrived. The largest crowd in Tiger history was in 2000 against Nebraska when 2,009 fans flocked to the Hearnes Center. Last year's match with the Cornhuskers nearly matched the 2000 crowd, as 2,002 fans saw the MU-NU matchup in Columbia.
MIZZOU ON THE RADIO
Beginning with the Quality Inn Tiger Invitational on Sept. 13-14, all of the Mizzou volleyball home matches will be broadcast on KCOU 88.1. The matches can also be heard via the World Wide Web at www.kcou.mu.org.
MYERS AND MORRIS MAKING A MOVE
A couple of the Tigers are making the move to the tops of the charts in the Missouri record book. Christi Myers is currently fifth on the career kills list with 1,008, two spots ahead of teammate Lisa Morris (969). Myers and Morris are also near the top of the charts in career kills per game. Morris is second with an average of 3.64 followed by Myers in third averaging 3.29. Myers is second in career hitting percentage (.297), tied for second on the career block assists list (261), fourth in solo blocks (72) and third in total blocks (333). She is also third on the career blocks per game charts a with an average of 1.09 blocks per game. Morris is moving up the career attacks list, as she is currently in fourth place with 2,711.
CHECKING THE LEADERBOARD
The Tigers are returning many of their top performers from a year ago. In fact the Tigers return 61% of their offensive production (1129/1850 kills) from last year . Among those are Christi Myers who was the team leader in kills (399), solo blocks (22), assisted blocks (114) and blocks per game (1.19) last season. Lisa Morris returns after leading the Tigers in kills per game in 2001 with an average of 4.10. Chrissy Elder was the team leader in assist per game, handing out an average of 12.75 assist per game last season.
A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Three redshirt freshman and one true freshman will be making their first collegiate appearance this season for Missouri. Freshman Lindsey Hunter is challenging for playing time at the setter position this season. She is from Papillion LaVista High School in Nebraska where she was the Nebraska Volleyball Gatorade Player of the Year in 2001 and was named a high school All-American by Student Sports Magazine and Volleyball Magazine. Redshirt freshman Shen Danru is from Shanghi, China and has been selected as the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year heading into the 2002 season. Danru is the first player in MU volleyball history that is originally from the Eastern Hemisphere. Another redshirt freshman, Lisa Boyd, hails from Farmington, Mo. and adds height to an already tall Tiger roster. The 6-2 Boyd was a three-sport athlete at Farmington High and will look to get on the court this season. Lindsey Noll is another redshirt freshman for MU. To say that she will add height to the lineup would be an understatement. At 6-5, Noll is the tallest player in MU volleyball history.
THE KREKLOW TURNAROUND
Susan and Wayne Kreklow enter their third year at the controls of the Missouri volleyball team. They have quickly turned Missouri into a winning program, as the first two years of the Kreklow era at MU has yielded two 20-win seasons and two trips to the NCAA Tournament. In 2000, the Kreklows' first year at MU, the Tigers were 24-7 and in year two of the Kreklow era, Missouri finished with a 20-11 record. That marked the first time since 1982-83 that MU had back-to-back 20-win seasons. It is also the first time in MU history that the Tigers have made back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament. Susan Kreklow was named the 2000 Big 12 Coach of the year by the conference coaches in just her first season leading the Tigers.
TAKING A LOOK AT THE 2002 SCHEDULE
The Tigers will open their 2002 season on the left coast as they travel to the Oregon State University Volleyball Showcase in Corvallis, Ore. on Aug. 30-31. There, MU will face Idaho State, Idaho and Oregon State. The following week, Mizzou travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to take part in the Crimson Tide Tournament. Along with the Tigers, McNeese, West Virginia and the host school Alabama will take part in the tournament. On Sept. 13-14 the Tigers will host the Quality Inn Tiger Invitational. North Carolina State, San Diego State, Arkansas-Little Rock and Eastern Illinois will join MU for the Invitational at the Hearnes Center. Following that the Tigers will open up their Big 12 portion of the schedule on the road against Texas. The first home conference match will be on Sept. 25th against Texas A&M. Nebraska, who was picked to finish first in the Big 12 preseason poll by the conference coaches will visit the Hearnes Center on Nov. 27. The Tigers will close out their regular season on Nov. 30 against Texas Tech.
PARTNERS IN EDUCATION
As of March 2002, the University of Missouri Volleyball Team and Smithton Middle School in Columbia have joined together in Partners in Education. The students of Smithton and the student-athletes of the MU volleyball team will participate in various activities together. As Partners in Education, both groups of students will have the opportunity to learn and grow from each other throughout the rest of the this year and into the next.
IN THE COMMUNITY
The Missouri Volleyball Program participates in several projects that have a positive impact on the community. The Tigers have volunteered as Columbia Public School elementary school reading partners, participated in the Mizzou Athletic Department's "Date Night" providing free child care for department employees, helped organize developmental youth volleyball leagues in Columbia Public Schools and participated in the Adopt-A-Spot program by helping to clean up downtown Columbia.