Oct. 15, 2002

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The No. 22 Missouri Tigers travel to Waco, Texas on Tuesday to face Baylor. The Tigers are 15-3 overall and 5-2 in Big 12 Conference play, while the Bears are 8-9 overall and 2-5 in conference action. Missouri is coming off a 3-0 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday. The win snapped a two-match losing streak for the Tigers after they had won 12 straight. Mizzou is in the Top 25 for the third straight week. The Tigers moved up to No. 22 after spending last week at No. 23. Baylor has been hampered by injuries this season and will be without All-Big 12 selection Stevie Nicholas on Wednesday. The Bears lead the all-times series against MU 8-4 and they swept the Tigers last season.

SCOUTING THE BEARS
Baylor enters Wednesday's match 8-9 on the season, 2-5 in Big 12 Conference play. The Bears' struggles this season are due in large part to injuries to key players. Stevie Nicholas, who had started 72 consecutive matches, tore her medial-meniscus in her right knee against Colorado on Oct. 19 and will be out for the remainder of the season. Nicholas was an All-Big 12 First Team member last season and was averaging 5.45 kills per game before she was sidelined this season. With Nicholas out, Tisha Schwartz has become the leader of the Bears attack. She is averaging 4.36 kills per game, has a .226 hitting percentage and is averaging 0.84 blocks per game. Jullian Mazzarella leads Baylor in assists (6.95 per game) and digs (2.95 per game). Brian Hosfeld is in his seventh season as the Bears head coach and has compiled a record of 116-98. He is 8-4 against Missouri. Baylor swept the season series with MU last season, defeating the Tigers 3-1 in Columbia before taking a 3-2 victory in Waco.

LAST TIME OUT
The University of Missouri volleyball team snapped it's two game losing streak, by defeating Oklahoma 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-23) last Saturday. The Tigers improved to 15-3 on the season and 5-2 in the Big 12 Conference. After falling behind 4-0 in the opening game, Mizzou scored seven straight points to take the lead. It went on to win game one 30-26. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in game two and, despite a late rally from OU, held on for the 30-27 win. MU put the match away with a 30-23 game three victory. Lindsey Noll had a career-high 19 kills to lead Mizzou. She was followed by Christi Myers with 14 and Shen Danru with 12. Myers and Jenny Duitsman each finished the night with a .500 hitting percentage. Lindsey Hunter improved on her conference leading assists per game average by finishing with 47 against Oklahoma. Sara Parks led the Tigers in digs with nine, followed by Hunter with eight. Missouri finished with a season-high 24 block assists against OU, led by Myers who had seven. The Tigers have now won the last five meetings with Oklahoma.

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.

MIZZOU IN THE POLLS
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team is ranked No. 22 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll released on Monday. Mizzou is 15-3 on the season and 5-2 in the Big 12 Conference. Missouri made its first appearance in the polls on Sept. 30 at No. 21. The Tigers fell to 23rd last week, but moved up to No. 22 this week. Two other Big 12 teams join Mizzou in the Top 25. Nebraska is No 4 and Texas holds the No. 25 spot. Kansas and Texas A&M also received votes in the latest poll.

IN A CLASS BY ITSELF
With Missouri's victory over Oklahoma on Saturday, the 2002 senior class became the winningest class in MU volleyball history. The seniors have a career record of 69-50 passing last year's class that finished 68-58.

A RECORD SETTING PACE
The 2002 Tigers are on pace to set several team and individual season records. At its current pace, Mizzou would finish with 1,863 kills for the season, passing the record set by last year's team of 1,850. The Tigers are also on pace to set a new assists record. At the current rate, Missouri would finish the season with over 1,700 assists, again passing last years squad which totaled 1,652. Individual records that are in jeopardy include the single season assists mark. Lindsey Hunter is on pace to finish with more than 1,500 assists, passing Heather Gerber's 1,493 assists in 1998. Also, Hunter's 14.13 assists per game average would set a new record, overtaking the current record of 13.23 set by Gerber. Shen Danru is on pace to finish with 58 aces, which would put her second on the all-time season best, just three shy of the record. Christi Myers and Jenny Duitsman currently have hitting percentages of .378 and .374, respectively. The all-time best season hitting percentage is .368 set by Yvette Buhlig in 1992.

HUNTER LENDS ASSISTANCE
Freshman Lindsey Hunter is currently second in the nation in assists per game. Her average of 14.13 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 12.63 assists per game average.

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 515 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 568-131.

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 3.80 kills per game average on the year and has a hitting percentage of .305. Additionally, she has recorded 27 total blocks for the season.

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 Baylor, 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 during the 2002 season, but looks to return to the court soon and continue the move up the charts.

MYERS ON THE MOVE
The name of Christi Myers is quickly moving up several lists in the Missouri record books. Myers has taken over first place on the career hitting percentage charts with a .310 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 1,216 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 the all-time leader in the block assists with 321. She is third on the career kills per game list (3.34), second in total blocks (401), tied for third in solo blocks (80) and is third in blocks per game (1.10). 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 fourth in the Big 12 Conference in hitting percentage with a .378 percentage for the year.

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 sixth in the Big 12 Conference in kills per game with a 3.95 average and is fourth in the conference in aces averaging 0.53 aces per game. Danru, who was named the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, has a .250 hitting percentage on the season and is averaging 3.22 digs per game.

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. Lindsey Hunter had a career high 63 assists in the match. 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.

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. Missouri is averaging 1,146 fans on the season, which ranks 23rd in the nation. The Tigers rank fourth among Big 12 schools in attendance. 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.

A HOMECOMING FOR THREE TIGERS
Three Tiger players made return visits to their home state On Oct. 9 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. Against Nebraska, 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. Parks led Mizzou with 13 digs in the match against the Huskers.

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.

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.

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 Oct. 9 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 14.13 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 (0.53) and digs per game (3.18) 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 2.93 kills per game and is hitting .296 for Missouri this season. She had a career-high 19 kills in MU's win over Oklahoma last Saturday. 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 1.75 kills per game.

ON TAP FOR THE TIGERS
Following Wednesday's trip to Waco, the Tigers will return home to face Kansas at 7 p.m. on Saturday in the Hearnes Center. Next week, MU will travel to Kansas State on Oct., 19, then return home to take on Texas on Oct. 26.