Nov. 12, 2002

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The No. 24 Missouri Tigers will look to snap a two-match losing streak as they take on the Colorado Buffaloes on Wednesday in the Hearnes Center. The Tigers are coming off defeats to Kansas State (3-0) and Texas A&M (3-1) last week and are 20-6 on the season and 9-5 in the Big 12 Conference. MU's two losses last week dropped the Tigers from No. 20 to No. 24 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25. Colorado has a 13-12 record and is 7-8 in the Big 12. Earlier this season, Missouri defeated the Buffaloes, 3-2 in a thrilling come from behind victory. The Tigers were down 2-0 before winning the final three games and taking the match victory. Colorado leads the all-time series with the Tigers 28-4, but MU has won three of the last five meetings.

SCOUTING THE BUFFALOES
Colorado is 13-12 on the season and 7-8 in the Big 12 Conference heading into Wednesday's match up with the Tigers. CU has won its last two matches, picking up a 3-1 win at Texas last Wednesday and a 3-0 home victory over Iowa State on Saturday. The Buffaloes are led by Monique Gerlach who is just eight kills away from reaching 1,000 career kills at Colorado. She has led CU in kills 15 times this season and has reached double digits in kills in 20 of the Buffs' 25 matches. Pi'i Aiu is in his sixth year as the Colorado head coach and has compiled a 111-69 record. CU leads the all-time series with Mizzou 28-4, but the Tigers have won three of the last five meetings, including the match between the two teams earlier this season, which MU took 3-2.

MISSOURI v. COLORADO- PART 1
Call it 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.

LAST TIME OUT- TEXAS A&M 3, MISSOURI 1
The Missouri Tigers dropped their second consecutive match as Texas A&M defeated Mizzou 3-1 (30-24, 30-19, 28-30, 30-25) on Friday in College Station, Texas. The Tigers are now 20-6 on the season and 9-5 in the Big 12 Conference. Despite having two players record 20 kills and two players finish with double-doubles, Mizzou was unable to come away with a victory. MU dropped the first two games of the match 30-24 and 30-19, but rebounded to win game three by a 30-28 score. However, Missouri could not hold the momentum as the Aggies took game four 30-25 for the match victory to improve to 17-7 and 9-6 in the Big 12. Christi Myers and Mary Lauren Smith each tallied 20 kills for Mizzou, which is a season high for Myers and ties a season high for Smith. Shen Danru added 15 kills, along with 15 digs for her 15th double-double of the season. Lindsey Hunter picked up her fifth double-double of the year, with 57 assists and adding 15 digs, which is a career high. Sara Parks led Mizzou with 17 digs, one off her career high. Myers moved into second on the all-time attacks list at Mizzou after recording 42 against Texas A&M to take her career total to 2,981.

TWENTY SOMETHING
With its win over Oklahoma last Saturday, Mizzou picked up its twentieth victory of the season, marking the third consecutive season the Tigers have recorded twenty wins. The last time MU had three straight 20-win seasons came back in 1981-83. Mizzou is currently 20-6 on the year with eight matches left in the regular season. Last season the Tigers finished 20-11 and the year before they were 24-7.

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 18-0 when it has a better hitting percentage than its opponents and is 17-2 when it has more aces than the opposition. The Tigers are 17-3 when it has more kills then their opponents, 18-2 when they have more assists and 15-1 when they out-dig the opponent. On the flip side, Mizzou has a losing record in matches in which the opposition has a better hitting percentage. The Tigers also hold losing records when they have fewer kills, fewer digs, fewer assists and fewer aces than the opponent.

ACES WILD
The Tigers tied a school record for aces in a four-game match by recording a season-high 16 against Oklahoma on Nov. 2. Shen Danru led MU, as she tied a career high with five aces against the Sooners. Juliana Godoi added a career high four, while Lindsey Hunter and Jenny Duitsman each recorded two. That match came after the Tigers recorded 15 aces against Southeast Missouri State last Wednesday. Danru, Godoi, Hunter, Duitsman and Christi Myers all recorded three aces a piece in the Tigers' 3-0 win over SEMO. Danru leads MU with a 0.52 aces per game average and leads the Big 12 Conference in that category.

PULLING RANK
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team is ranked No. 24 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll released on Monday. Mizzou is 20-6 on the season and 9-5 in the Big 12 Conference. Mizzou's highest ever ranking was in 1982 when the Tigers reached the No. 18 spot. This week marks the seventh straight week, MU has appeared in the polls. Missouri made its first appearance on Sept. 30 at No. 21. Two other Big 12 teams join Mizzou in the Top 25. Nebraska is No. 5 and Kansas State moves up to No. 20. Texas A&M and Texas also received votes this week. The Tigers are 4-2 against teams that were ranked when they played. MU defeated then-No. 24 Texas, then-No. 20 Texas A&M and then-No. 23 Colorado, all in consecutive matches. On Oct. 26, the Tigers defeated then-No. 23 Texas for the second time this season. The Tigers have suffered losses to No. 5 Nebraska and No. 25 Kansas State.

MAKE IT QUICK
Of Missouri's 20 victories on the year, 13 have come in three game sweeps. Five of the wins have come in four games and only twice has Mizzou been pushed to a fifth game. One of the five game matches 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 1,872 kills for the season, passing the record set by last year's team of 1,850. Also, at the current rate, Missouri would finish the season with 1,713 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 1,533 assists, passing Heather Gerber's 1,493 assists in 1998. Also, Hunter's 14.16 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 57 aces, which would put her second on the all-time season best, just four shy of the record.

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 OSU Volleyball Showcase in Corvallis, Ore. Last week she recorded two double-doubles and now has fourteen for the season. Against Oklahoma, she had a career high 21 kills and added 15 digs. Danru also tied a career high with five service aces against the Sooners. She leads the conference in aces averaging 0.52 aces per game and is fourth in the Big 12 Conference in kills per game with a 4.08 average. Danru, who was named the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, has a .232 hitting percentage on the season and is averaging 3.13 digs per game.

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 1,300 kills for her career against Oklahoma last Saturday. She now has 1,336 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. Last Friday, Myers moved into second on the career attacks list with 2,981, passing teammate Lisa Morris. Myers is also the all-time leader in block assists with 347. She is second in total blocks (433), third in solo blocks (86) third in blocks per game (1.11), and third in kills per game (3.41). 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 .363 percentage for the year.

IN A CLASS BY ITSELF
With Missouri's victory over Oklahoma on Oct. 12, the 2002 senior class became the winningest class in MU volleyball history. The seniors currently stand at 74-53 at Mizzou. Previously, the most wins belonged to last year's senior class which finished 68-58. HUNTER LENDS ASSISTANCE Freshman Lindsey Hunter is currently second in the nation in assists per game. Her average of 14.16 is also leading the Big 12 Conference. Hunter set a new career high at Colorado with 63 assists. The 63 assists is the fifth best outing by anyone in the Big 12 Conference this season. She has also recorded four double- doubles this season. She holds a commanding lead in the Big 12 Conference in assists per game as Laura Grote of Texas Tech is next with a 12.98 assists per game average.

DEJA VU, ALL OVER AGAIN
For the second straight season, Lisa Morris has had her year cut short due to an injury. Morris, who is second on the career kills per game and total attacks lists at Missouri, will be out for the remainder of the season after tearing her ACL in Mizzou's victory over Texas on Oct. 26. Morris is a senior, meaning the injury will also end her career at MU. Last year Morris missed the last six Tiger matches due to a blood clot in her right shoulder. Morris is in the top 10 in three categories in the Missouri Volleyball career record books. With 1,076 career kills, she is in fifth place at Mizzou. She is one spot ahead of teammate Christi Myers on the kills per game list with an average of 3.55 She is also in third place with 2,978 career attacks.

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 that honor. Smith was also featured in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of the Oct. 21 issue of Sports Illustrated. The Atlanta, Ga. native, 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 3.68 per game average on the year and has a hitting percentage of .272. Additionally, she has recorded 43 total blocks for the season.

DOUBLE TROUBLE TIMES THREE
Three Tigers have recorded double-doubles this season, led by Shen Danru who has fifteen. Her best outing came against Oklahoma when she recorded a career-high 21 kills and added 15 digs. She also had good showing 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 also recorded five double-doubles this season, with her best outings coming against Texas A&M (57 assists and 15 digs) and Oregon State (59 assists and 12 digs).

KREKLOW TOPS THE CHARTS
Missouri head coach Susan Kreklow is the winningest active coach among Division I volleyball coaches. Kreklow's winning percentage of .825 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 520 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 seasons. When those records are added in, she has a combined record of 573-134.

ON TAP
Following Wednesday's match with Colorado, the Tigers have five matches remaining on their regular season schedule. Mizzou will travel to Ames, Iowa on Saturday to take on Iowa State at 2 p.m. The Tigers will then return home next Wednesday to face Baylor at 7 p.m. in the Hearnes Center.