Sept. 13, 2002

The Missouri Tiger volleyball team opened play in the Quality Inn Tiger Invitational by defeating North Carolina State 3-0 (30-18, 30-12, 30-21). The Tigers move to 7-1 on the year, while North Carolina State falls to 1-9.

The Tigers followed that with a four game win over San Diego State in the final game of the first day of the tournament.

The Tigers were led in the first game of the day by Shen Danru on offense with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .600. She also had a career high five services aces. Mary Lauren Smith had 11 kills and Lindsey Noll added 10. Lindsey Hunter had 50 assists for MU and led the team in digs with nine. Chrissy Elder had eight digs, while Juiana Godoi and Sara Parks added seven.

Against San Diego State, Smith led in kills with 17 followed by Christi Myers led with 16. The 16 kills for Myers moves her into third place on the career kills list at MU with 1,119 career kills. Danru added 12 kills. Three Tigers had double digit digs. Juliana Godoi led the way with 15, followed by Danru with 14 and Myers with 10.

In other action on Friday, Eastern Illinois defeated Arkansas-Little Rock 3-2 (30-12, 24-30, 30-27, 27-30, 15-12). Arkansas also dropped its second match of the day, falling to San Diego State 3-0 (30-27, 30-24, 30-18). Eastern Illinois improved to 2-0 in the tournament with a 3-0 (30-26, 30-21, 30-21) victory over North Carolina State.

The Tigers will take on Arkansas-Little Rock at 2 p.m. on Saturday, before facing Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m.

Continue to check www.mutigers.com for tournament results. The site will be updated following each match.