Oct. 18, 2002

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The No. 22 Missouri volleyball team returns home on Saturday to face Kansas. The Tigers (16-3, 6-2) are coming off a three game win over Baylor on Wednesday, while the Jayhawks lost to Kansas State 3-0 on Wednesday. The Tigers are ranked in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 for the third straight week, this week coming in at No. 22. KU coach Ray Beechard is in his fifth season at the helm of the Jayhawk program and has compiled a record of 77-63. Mizzou and Kansas split the series last season, as each team won on the others home court. MU holds a 35-30 lead in the all-time series. Up next for the Tigers is a trip to Kansas State on Wednesday.

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas enters Saturday's match with a 16-3 record and is 6-2 in the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks opened the season with eight straight wins, before opening conference play with a loss to Texas A&M. The Jayhawks are coming off a three game loss to Kansas State on Wednesday in Lawrence. The only other loss for KU came at Texas. Freshman Josiane Lima leads Kansas in kills per game (4.00), is second in blocks per game (1.11) and is third in digs per game (2.72). Andi Rozum is averaging 12.65 assists per game, which is second best in the Big 12 behind MU's Lindsey Hunter (14.21). Ray Beechard is in his fifth year as the KU head coach and has a record of 77-63. Last year MU and KU split the two game between the two teams.

LAST TIME OUT- MISSOURI 3, BAYLOR 0
The No. 22 Missouri Tigers defeated Baylor 3-0 (30-26, 30-15, 31-29) on Wednesday in Waco, Texas to move to 16-3 and 6-2 in the Big 12 Conference. Shen Danru led Mizzou with 17 kills and a .389 hitting percentage. Lindsey Hunter held her lead Big 12 in the assists per game category as she turned in 47 against Baylor. Christi Myers extends her lead atop the all-time hitting percentage charts at Missouri with a .500 hitting percentage and 14 kills on Wednesday. Lisa Morris returned to the court for MU on Wednesday after missing the last four matches due to an injured abdomen. She had two kills along with one block in her return. The Tigers fell behind early in game one, but after taking the 10-9 lead, they never lost the lead. Hunter had 18 assists in the first game and Mizzou had 21 kills in the opening game led by Danru with 10. The Tigers cruised to the 30-15 victory in game two behind a hitting percentage of .448. Missouri led throughout most of game three before the Bears battled back to tie the score at twenty-five and then took the 26-25 lead. The two teams then went back and forth the rest of the way before MU finally took the 31-29 win and the match victory.

SISTER SISTER
The Missouri vs. Kansas rivalry takes on a different twist for the parents of Missouri senior Lisa Morris. Morris' sister, Lindsey, is a sophomore on the Jayhawk volleyball team. Both Lisa and Lindsey attended Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kan. Lisa has been hampered by injuries so far this season, but returned to the court on Wednesday against Baylor and will be available to play against Kansas. She is averaging 3.39 kills per game this season with a .260 hitting percentage. Lindsey, an outside hitter for KU, is averaging 1.79 kills per game this season and is hitting .267.

PULLING RANK
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team is ranked No. 22 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll released on Monday. Mizzou is 16-3 on the season and 6-2 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. The Tigers are 3-1 against team that were ranked when they played. MU defeated No. 24 Texas, No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 23 Colorado, all in consecutive matches.

THE STATS DON'T LIE
Proving that the stats do mean something, when the Tigers lead in the major statistic categories, they usually come away with a victory. Mizzou is 15-0 when it has a better hitting percentage than its opponents and is 14-0 when it has more kills that the opposition. The Tigers are 14-0 when they have more assists and are 14-0 when it out-serves the other team. MU is also 11-1 when it out-digs the opponent.

DOUBLE TROUBLE TIMES THREE
Three Tigers have recorded double-doubles so far this season, led by Shen Danru who has eleven. Her best outings came against Alabama (18 kills and 16 digs) and Texas A&M (16 kills and 18 digs). Danru leads the Tigers in both kills and digs on the year. Christi Myers has had four double-doubles with her best match coming against Idaho when she had 19 kills and 16 digs. Lindsey Hunter has three double-doubles this season, coming against Oregon State (12 digs and 59 assists), McNeese State (10 digs, 38 assists) and Texas (11 assists and 46 digs).

MAKE IT QUICK
Of Missouri's 16 victories on the year, 11 have come in three game sweeps. Four of the wins have come in four games and only once has Mizzou been pushed to a fifth game. The only five game match for MU came against Colorado when MU dropped the first two games before fighting back to win the next three games.

RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
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 year's 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 14.21 assists per game average would set (pun intended) 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 .385 and .366, respectively. The all-time best season hitting percentage is .368 set by Yvette Buhlig in 1992.

IN A CLASS BY ITSELF
With Missouri's victory over Oklahoma last Saturday, the 2002 senior class became the winningest class in MU volleyball history. The seniors currently stand at 70-50 at Mizzou. Previously, the most wins belonged to last year's senior class that finished 68-58.

TIGERS GET MO FROM LISA MO
Lisa Morris has returned to the court following an abdomen injury that kept her out of four matches. Morris was back on the court against Baylor on Wednesday, finishing with two kills and a block assist. Morris is in the top 10 in three categories in the Missouri Volleyball career record books. With 1,047 career kills heading into the matchup with Kansas, Morris is in seventh place. She is one spot ahead of teammate Christi Myers on the kills per game list with an average of 3.56. She is also climbing the total attacks list, currently in second place with 2,901 career attacks.

MY OH MYERS
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 .311 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 1,230 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 324. She is third on the career kills per game list (.351), second in total blocks (405), tied for third in solo blocks (81) and is 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 fourth in the Big 12 Conference in hitting percentage with a .385 percentage for the year.

HUNTER LENDS ASSISTANCE
Freshman Lindsey Hunter is currently second in the nation in assists per game. Her average of 14.21 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, Saturday's opponent, is next with a 12.65 assists per game average.

SMITH GOES NATIONAL
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 third on the team with a 3.78 kills per game average on the year and has a hitting percentage of .300. Additionally, she has recorded 30 total blocks for the season.

SHEN-ANIGANS
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 fifth in the Big 12 Conference in kills per game with a 4.03 average and is fourth 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 .258 hitting percentage on the season and is averaging 3.17 digs per game.

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 516 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 569-131.

TIGER FANS HEAD TO 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 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.

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.

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. Missouri's win over Baylor on Wednesday was the sixtieth win for them at MU. 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 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 14.21 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 (3.17) and is second on the team in kills per game (4.03). 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 2.86 kills per game and is hitting .291 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.