Missouri Volleyball Returns Home to Face Sooners
10/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 11, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Listen
To Game Action Here
The Missouri volleyball team, ranked No. 23 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Top 25 will return home on Saturday to take on the Oklahoma Sooners. Missouri (14-3, 4-2) has dropped two straight matches after winning 12 in a row. The Tigers lost to No. 5 Nebraska on Wednesday as injuries forced MU to play with out four key players, including three starters. Oklahoma (4-11, 2-5) enters Saturday's match coming off a 3-0 loss to Kansas State on Wednesday. The Sooners are coached by Kalani Mahi, who is in his third year at OU and has compiled a 14-62 record. The Sooners hold a 31-21 lead in the all-time series, but MU has won the last four meetings and six of the last seven. Last season Missouri defeated Oklahoma 3-1 in Columbia, before recording a 3-0 sweep in Norman later in the season.
SCOUTING THE SOONERS
Oklahoma in 4-11 overall this season and 2-5 in the Big 12 Conference. In league play, the Sooners have defeated Iowa State 3-0 and Baylor 3-1. They are coming off a 3-0 (30-20, 30-20, 30-19) loss to Kansas State on Wednesday.
Megan O'Connell leads the Sooner attack averaging 3.38 kills per game and is hitting .259. Candice Woods has a .242 hitting percentage and averages 2.40 kills per game. Denise Griffen leads OU on defense with an average of 3.11 digs per game. Woods leads in the blocks category with 1.06 blocks per game.
Kalani Mahi is in his third year as the Sooner head coach and has a record of 14-62 at OU. The Tigers have won four straight over Oklahoma, but trail in the all-time series 31-21.
LAST TIME OUT
The No. 23 ranked Missouri volleyball team had the tough task of taking on the No. 5 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers with a depleted lineup on Wednesday in Lincoln, Neb. Mizzou battled hard, but NU proved to be too much for Missouri, as the Cornhuskers took the 3-0 win.
Despite being without four of its players, including three starters, Missouri battled the Cornhuskers throughout the match. The lead switched hands several times in the early goings of game one, with MU building a 12-9 lead. The teams were tied at 18, before Nebraska finished on a 12-7 run to take the opening game 30-25.
In game two, Mizzou again jumped out to an early advantage, leading 5-3 and forcing the Huskers to use a timeout. Nebraska rebounded and went on to take a 2-0 lead in the match by winning game two 30-20.
The Tigers once a gain kept it close in game three, but Nebraska came away with the 30-22 win and the 3-0 match victory.
Three Tigers originally from the state of Nebraska made return visits on Wednesday night. Lindsey Hunter (Papillion, Neb.) had 28 assists for the Tigers, Sara Parks (Papillion, Neb.) led MU in digs with 13 and Jenny Duitsman (Lincoln , Neb.) had a team high .583 hitting percentage.
Mizzou was without four key players on Wednesday night due to injuries. Seniors Christi Myers (shins), Lisa Morris (abdomen) and Katherine Wingert (appendix) and junior Mary Lauren Smith (illness) were unable to play against Nebraska. Due to the injuries, the MU starting lineup consisted of a freshman and three redshirt freshman.
MIZZOU IN THE POLLS
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team is ranked No. 23 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll released on Monday. Mizzou is 14-3 on the season and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference.
Last week, Mizzou moved into the poll for the first time this season. MU was No. 21 after defeating No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 23 Colorado the week before.
Two other Big 12 team join Mizzou in the Top 25. Nebraska is No 5 and Texas A&M holds the No. 25 spot. Texas and Kansas also received votes in the latest poll.
SMITH GARNERS NATIONAL ACCOLADE
Missouri junior Mary Lauren Smith was selected as the AVCA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week on Sept. 30 for her performances against Texas A&M and Colorado. Smith is the first Missouri player ever to receive this honor.
The Atlanta, Ga. resident, posted back-to-back 20-kill matches to lead MU to victories over No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 23 Colorado. Smith had a hitting percentage of .432 against the Buffaloes and hit .394 against the Aggies for a .414 hitting percentage for the week. She also averaged 4.44 kills per game in the two match stretch.
Smith is currently second on the team with a 3.98 kills per game average on the year and has a hitting percentage of .305. Additionally, she has recorded 26 total blocks for the season.
A SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER
Mizzou was a perfect 11-0 in the month of September, including three wins over ranked opponents. The stretch of eleven straight wins vaulted MU into the national rankings.
The only other time a Missouri volleyball team had an unbeaten month, came in September of 1982, when the Tigers went 17-0.
SENIOR CLASS TIES RECORD
With their victory over Iowa State on Oct. 2, the 2002 senior class tied last year's senior class as the winningest class in MU history. The seniors have amassed a career record of 68-50, tying them with last year's seniors that finished 68-58.
A HOMECOMING FOR THREE TIGERS
Three Tiger players made return visits to their home state on Wednesday and all had good showings. Freshman Lindsey Hunter and sophomores Sara Parks and Jenny Duitsman each attended high school in the state of Nebraska.
Duitsman attended Lincoln Lutheran High in Lincoln Neb., where she was a three-time all-state selection and was a first-team super state selection as a senior. She holds the Nebraska Class C-1 record for most kills in a season and most career kills. On Wednesday, Duitsman led the Tigers in with a .583 hitting percentage with seven kills.
Hunter is from Papillion LaVista High School in Nebraska where she was the Nebraska Volleyball Gatorade Player of the Year in 2001. She helped the Monarchs to back-to-back State Championships in 2000 and 2001 and was the tournament MVP both years. She had 28 assists for MU to go along with six digs against the Cornhuskers.
Parks is also from Papillion LaVista High School where she joined Hunter on the 2000 State Championship team and earned all-state honors from the Omaha-World Herald as a senior. On Wednesday, Parks led Mizzou with 13 digs.
THE COMEBACK IN BOULDER
The Tiger volleyball team came away with a thrilling come from behind 3-2 victory over Colorado on Sept. 28. After dropping the first two games of the match, Mizzou rallied to win the next three and pick up its eleventh straight victory.
Colorado took game one by a 30-25 score and followed that with a 30-23 win in the second game. The Tigers rebounded to win game three 30-27 and then took game four 30-17. The Tigers opened game five with a 6-0 run. CU then came back to tie the score at eight, but MU closed out the match with 7-3 run for the match victory.
Mary Lauren Smith led Mizzou with 20 kills. It was the second straight match in which she had at least 20 kills. Shen Danru had 16 kills and Christi Myers had 13. Myers moved into second place on the career total blocks list at Missouri with eight blocks on the night and 385 for her career.
Lindsey Hunter had a career high 63 assists in the match. Danru led the Tigers in digs with 18, followed by Sara Parks with 12.
The win was the third straight Tiger victory over a ranked opponent and it was the first ever victory by a Mizzou team in Boulder.
MORRIS CLIMBS IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Lisa Morris is in the top 10 in three categories in the Missouri Volleyball career record books. With 1,045 career kills heading into the matchup with Iowa State, Morris is in seventh place. She is one spot ahead of teammate Christi Myers on the kills per game list with an average of 3.57. She is also climbing the total attacks list, currently in second place with 2,892 career attacks.
Morris has been hampered by injuries early in the 2002 season, but has returned to the court and now with her back in the lineup, she will continue the move up the charts.
MYERS MAKES A MOVE
The name of Christi Myers is quickly moving up several lists in the Missouri record books. Myers is tied with Dianne Berg for the all-time lead in career hitting percentage at Missouri, currently with a .308 mark.
Earlier this season, Myers moved into second on the career kills list at MU and went over 1,200 kills for her career against Texas Tech. She now has 1,202 kills at Mizzou. Myers has a ways to go to catch first place as Yvette Buhlig totaled 1,478 kills in her four years as a Tiger.
Myers is also second on the block assists charts (314), third on the career kills per game list (3.33), second in total blocks (394), fourth in solo blocks (80) and third in blocks per game (1.09).
Myers had a hitting percentage of .714 in Mizzou's win over Eastern Illinois, setting a new career high. That is also the best hitting percentage by any player in the Big 12 Conference this season. Myers is third in the Big 12 Conference in hitting percentage with a .371 percentage for the year.
KREKLOW TOPS THE CHARTS
Missouri head coach Susan Kreklow is the winningest active coach among Division I volleyball coaches. Kreklow's winning percentage of .830 is the best among active coaches with at least five years of coaching experience. She is also second in total wins among active coaches with 514 in her career.
These numbers reflect her records as the head coach of the Missouri and Columbia College women's volleyball teams. She also coached the Columbia College men's team for three season. When those records are added in, she has a combined record of 567-131.
HUNTER LENDS ASSISTANCE
Freshman Lindsey Hunter is currently second in the nation in assists per game. Her average of 14.05 is also leading the Big 12 Conference.
Hunter set a new career high at Colorado with 63 assists. The 63 assists are the best by anyone in the Big 12 Conference this season. She also has the third and fourth best assist outings of the year, with 59 assists matches against Oregon State and Texas A&M.
She holds a commanding lead in the Big 12 Conference in assists per game as Andi Rozum of Kansas is next with a 12.57 assists per game average.
DANRU GAINING RECOGNITION
Shen Danru was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Sept. 9 for her performances at the Crimson Tide Invitational.
A native of Shanghai, China, Danru was named the tournament MVP at the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and led the Tigers to the tournament title. She was also named the tournament MVP at the Quality Inn Tiger Invitational leading the Tigers to another team title.
In addition, Danru was named to the All-Tournament team in the season opening tournament in Corvallis, Ore.
She is fourth in the Big 12 Conference in kills per game with a 3.95 average and is second in the conference in aces averaging 0.51 aces per game. Danru, who was named the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, has a .252 hitting percentage on the season and is averaging 3.22 digs per game.
A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Three redshirt freshman and one true freshman have made their first collegiate appearances this season for Mizzou and made immediate impacts. All four freshman and redshirt freshman were in the starting lineup against No. 5 Nebraska on Wednesday due to injuries on the team.
Freshman Lindsey Hunter 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.
Hunter is second in the nation in assists per game with an average of 14.05 assists per game and set a new career high against Colorado with 63 assists. She is on pace to break the school record for most assists in a season.
Redshirt freshman Shen Danru is from Shanghai, China and was selected as the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year heading into the 2002 season and was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Sept. 9.
She leads the team in aces per game (0.51) and digs per game (3.22) and is second on the team in kills per game (3.95).
Lindsey Noll is another redshirt freshman for MU who has made an impact quickly. At 6-5, Noll is the tallest player in MU volleyball history.
She is averaging 2.73 kills per game and is hitting .284 for Missouri this season.
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
Boyd returned to the court against Colorado after sitting out the first 13 matches due to an injury to her foot. She has started twice for MU and is averaging 1.93 kills per game.
MIZZOU ON THE RADIO
Throughout the 2002 volleyball season 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.
THE KREKLOW TURNAROUND
Susan and Wayne Kreklow are in their third year at the controls of the Missouri volleyball team. The Kreklows picked up win number fifty at Mizzou last month with MU's victory over UMKC.
They have quickly turned Missouri into a winning program. The first two years of the Kreklow era at MU 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.
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 seasons, the average attendance has increased an amazing 241%.
The top nine crowds in Missouri volleyball history have taken place since the Kreklows arrived at Mizzou in 2000. Earlier this season, 1,339 fans saw the Tigers claim the Tiger Invitational title by defeating Eastern Illinois. That crowd was the ninth largest in MU history. On Sept. 25, the eighth largest crowd (1,376) attended the Tigers win over Texas A&M.
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.
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.
ON TAP FOR THE TIGERS
Following Saturday's matchup with the Sooners, Missouri travels to Waco, Texas on Wednesday to face Baylor at 7 p.m. The Tigers return home next Saturday to face Kansas at p.m. in the Hearnes Center.
