Oct. 8, 2002

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

No. 23 Missouri travels to Lincoln, Neb. on Wednesday to face the No. 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers. Missouri is in second place in the Big 12 Conference, trailing only the Cornhuskers in the standings. The Tigers are coming off their first loss since Aug. 31 on Saturday. Texas Tech snapped Mizzou's 12 match win streak with a 3-1 win in Lubbock. Missouri is now 14-2 on the year and 4-1 in the Big 12 Conference. Nebraska is 13-1 on the year with its only loss coming to USC, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation. John Cook is in his third year as head coach of the Cornhuskers and holds a 78-3 record. Last season, Nebraska advanced to the Final Four before falling to eventual National Champion Stanford in the semifinals. Nebraska leads the all-time series with MU 54-2-1 and Missouri will be looking for its first win over NU since 1982.

SCOUTING THE CORNHUSKERS
Nebraska is currently 13-1 on the year and ranked No. 5 in the nation. The only loss for the Cornhuskers came to USC, who was ranked third at the time the two teams met and is now No. 1. The Cornhuskers are 5- 0 in the Big 12 Conference and is coming off a four game win over No. 25 Texas A&M on Sunday. The Huskers have won 55 straight Big 12 matches and have won 32 straight home conference matches. Senior Amber Holmquist leads the nation with an average of 1.98 blocks per game. Senior Greichaly Cepero was voted the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year and leads the conference with a .508 hitting percentage. The Cornhuskers hold a commanding lead in the all-time series with Mizzou, having won 54 of the 57 meetings. The last win for the Tigers over Nebraska was in 1982.

A HOMECOMING FOR THREE TIGERS
Three Tiger players will be returning home on Wednesday. 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. 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. 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. She played her freshman year for the University of Nebraska, and appeared in 77 games for the Cornhuskers, but transferred to MU prior to this season.

LAST TIME OUT
The No. 21 ranked Missouri Tiger volleyball team had its twelve match winning streak snapped on Saturday as Texas Tech downed Mizzou 3-1 in Lubbock, Texas. Missouri never trailed in the opening game, on its way to a 30-26 game one win. Game two was just the opposite as the Red Raiders led throughout the game and took the 30-25 victory. Mizzou then dropped game three by a 30-24 score. Texas Tech then took game four by a 30-23 score for the match victory. Shen Danru had 15 kills for MU, followed by Christi Myers and Lindsey Noll with 14. The national assists leader, Lindsey Hunter had 50 assists for the Tigers. Danru also led in digs with 13 on the night.

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.

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 last week 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.

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 14-2 on the season and 4-1 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.

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.

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. Seniors Christi Myers, Lisa Morris and Katherine Wingert have amassed a career record of 68-49, tying them with last year's seniors that finished 68-58.

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 567-130.

HUNTER LENDS ASSISTANCE
Freshman Lindsey Hunter is currently the national leader in assists per game. She is averaging 14.31 assists per game. 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 12.51 assists per game average.

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.

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 0.54 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 3.30 digs per game.

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 FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Three redshirt freshman and one true freshman have made their first collegiate appearances this season for Mizzou and made immediate impacts. 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 the national leader in assists per game with an average of 14.31 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 (0.58) and digs per game (3.31) and is second on the team in kills per game (3.96). 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 2.60 kills per game and is hitting .304 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 had seven kills against the Buffaloes and added nine more against Iowa State.

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
The Tigers will return home on Saturday to host Oklahoma at 7 p.m. in the Hearnes Center. Following that MU is back on the road, taking on Baylor on Wednesday in Waco, Texas followed by a matchup with Kansas in Columbia on Oct. 19.