Oct. 25, 2002

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Two Top 25 teams will square off on Saturday in the Hearnes Center as No. 19 Missouri host No. 23 Texas. The Tigers defeated UT earlier in the season, 3-1, in Austin, Texas for their fifth straight win over the Longhorns. Missouri is 17-4 on the season and 7-3 in the Big 12 Conference. The Tigers are currently in fourth place in Conference standings. Texas is 17-3 and 8-2 on the year and is in a tie for second in the Big 12. In the earlier meeting this season, Mizzou dropped the first game before winning the next three to take the match victory. Texas leads the all-time series between the two teams 8-5, by winning the first eight matchups before dropping the last five. The Tigers had its three match win streak snapped last Wednesday with a loss to Kansas State. The Longhorns are coming off a 3-0 non-conference victory over Southwest Texas last Tuesday.

SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
Texas is tied for second in the Big 12 Conference with Kansas State at 8-2 in league play. Overall, the Longhorns are 17-3 on the season and have won nine straight matches. Texas opened the season winning eight of the first nine matches before dropping matches to MU and Nebraska. Texas climbed into the USA Today/ AVCA Coaches Top 25 for the first time last week at No. 25 and this week moved up to No. 23. Bethany Howden led Texas in the first meeting with MU, recording a season-high 20 kills. Mira Topic leads UT with a 4.39 kills per game average and has recorded double-digit kills in 16 of 20 matches.

MISSOURI v. TEXAS, PART 1
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team extended its winning streak to nine matches by defeating Texas 3-1 on Sept. 18 in their Big 12 Conference opener in Austin, Texas. For the second time this season, Mizzou lost game one of the match, but rallied to win the next three and take the victory. After dropping game one 30-26, the Tigers bounced back to take game two by a 30-23 score. Mizzou then took a 2-1 lead in the match by winning game three, 30-24. MU followed that with a convincing 30-21 win in game four. Mary Lauren Smith led the Tigers in kills with 19 on the night and hit .600. Lisa Morris added 12 and Shen Danru had 11. Lindsey Hunter, the Big 12 Conference assists leader, had 46 assist for Missouri on the night. Hunter also led MU in digs with 11 against Texas. Missouri has now won the last five meetings with Texas and has not lost to the Longhorns since the Kreklows arrived at MU in 2000.

LAST TIME OUT- KANSAS STATE 3, MISSOURI 0
The Tigers' losing streak in Manhattan grew to nine after a 3-0 (31-29, 30-27, 39-37 ) loss to Kansas State on Wednesday. Missouri (17-4, 7-3) had its three match winning streak snapped with the defeat to Kansas State. Game one was a back-and-forth battle, featuring 18 ties, before the Wildcats were able to pull out the 31-29 victory. The second game was similar to the first with the lead shifting between the teams, with KSU holding the lead when it counted. Just when it seemed things couldn't get much tighter, it did. Mizzou fought off seven Wildcat game points and had four game points of its own in game three before KSU came away with the 39-37 win to claim the match victory. Shen Danru led Mizzou with her twelfth double-double of the year (17 kills and 16 digs). Mary Lauren Smith had 14 kills and Christi Myers had 12. Lisa Morris added 11. Lindsey Hunter had 57 assists for MU, extending her lead in the Big 12 in assists per game. The Wildcats have won 16 of the last 17 meetings with MU and the last win for Mizzou over Kansas State was in 2000. The last Tiger victory in Manhattan came in 1993. With the win, Kansas State moves to 12-6 on the season and 8-2 in the Big 12, which puts them in a tie for second place. Missouri is alone in third place.

PULLING RANK
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team is ranked No. 19 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll released on Monday. Mizzou is 17-4 on the season and 7-3 in the Big 12 Conference. Mizzou is nearing its highest ever ranking. In 1982, the Tigers reached the No. 18 spot, marking the highest ranking MU has held in the rankings. Missouri made its first appearance in the polls on Sept. 30 at No. 21. Two other Big 12 teams join Mizzou in the Top 25. Nebraska is No. 4 and Texas holds the No. 23 spot. Kansas State 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.

DOUBLE TROUBLE TIMES THREE
Three Tigers have recorded double-doubles so far this season, led by Shen Danru who has twelve. Her best outings came against Alabama (18 kills and 16 digs), Texas A&M (16 kills and 18 digs) and Kansas State (17 kills and 16 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).

TIGER FANS HEAD TO HEARNES
To steal a line from "The Voice of the Tigers" Mike Kelly, MU fans have been "taking it to the house" this year. Missouri is averaging 1,256 fans on the season, which ranks 19th in the nation. The Tigers rank fourth among Big 12 schools in attendance. Missouri set a new attendance record last Saturday in its win over Kansas, as 2,083 fans attended the match. That crown passes the old record of 2,009 that saw MU's match against Nebraska 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. 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 ten crowds in Missouri volleyball history have taken place since the Kreklows arrived at Mizzou in 2000.

MAKE IT QUICK
Of Missouri's 17 victories on the year, 12 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.

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 Oct 16. She had 13 kills against Kansas on Oct. 19 and 11 against Kansas State on Oct. 23. Morris is in the top 10 in three categories in the Missouri Volleyball career record books. With 1,071 career kills heading into the matchup with Texas, Morris is in fifth 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 2,961 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 .309 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 1,263 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 330. She is third on the career kills per game list (3.39), second in total blocks (411), tied for third in solo blocks (81) 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 .362 percentage for the year.

HUNTER LENDS ASSISTANCE
Freshman Lindsey Hunter is currently second in the nation in assists per game. Her average of 14.55 is also leading the Big 12 Conference. Hunter set a new career high at Colorado with 63 assists. The 63 assists is the third best outing by anyone in the Big 12 Conference this season. She holds a commanding lead in the Big 12 Conference in assists per game as Andi Rozum of Kansas is next with a 12.41 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. Smith was also featured in "Faces in the Crowd" section of this week's Sports Illustrated. 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 3.82 kills per game average on the year and has a hitting percentage of .299. Additionally, she has recorded 37 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 4.14 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 .257 hitting percentage on the season and is averaging 3.25 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 517 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 570-132.

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 71-51 at Mizzou. Previously, the most wins belonged to last year's senior class that finished 68-58.

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 1,865 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 14.55 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. Jenny Duitsman and Christi Myers currently have hitting percentages of .386 and .362 respectively. The all-time best season hitting percentage is .368 set by Yvette Buhlig in 1992.

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.

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 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 14.55 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 (3.25) and kills per game (4.14). 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 2.78 kills per game and is hitting .287 for Missouri this season. She had a career-high 19 kills in MU's win over Oklahoma. 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.