Aug. 22, 2003
Expectations are high as the Missouri Tigers begin the 30th season of volleyball at MU. After making its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2002, the team will be looking to make a return trip this year.
From the first NCAA Tournament victory in school history to MU's first All-American, 2002 was a year of firsts for the Tigers and has increased the excitement for the 2003 season.
Last year saw Mizzou, make its third straight postseason appearance, defeat Northwestern in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament for the first ever postseason win in school history.
The Tigers then faced No. 8 Northern Iowa and despite winning the first two games of the match, the Panthers were able to rebound and take the next three games to end Mizzou's season.
Eight members of the 2002 team return in 2003. Each of the returners saw significant playing time in 2002 and each spent time in the starting lineup.
Three of the four Tigers who earned All-Big 12 honors last year return this season.
Susan and Wayne Kreklow begin their fourth season at the helm of the Tigers and have led the turnaround of the MU program. Missouri has won at least 20 matches in each of the Kreklows three seasons in Columbia and the Tigers have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of those seasons. Mizzou will go for four in a row this season and expectations are set higher than just making the tournament.
OUTSIDE HITTER
Leading the postseason push last season for MU were Mary Lauren Smith and Shen Danru. Smith recorded a career-high 28 kills in the win over Northwestern and followed that with a 22-kill performance against Northern Iowa. Danru has a career-high 23 kills in the opening round match and matched that with 23 kills against UNI. Smith and Danru return in 2003 and will be looked upon to lead the Tiger attack.
Smith, a senior, was the AVCA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 24-30, 2002. She was an All-Big 12 Conference Honorable Mention selection last season after recording 445 kills, sixth most in the Big 12. Smith had five matches in which she reached the 20-kill mark, including both of the postseason matches.
Danru is a sophomore who came on to the scene last year with a record setting season. She set a Mizzou record for services aces in a season with 64 on the year and was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. Danru was the tournament MVP at two of the Tigers' three season-opening tournaments. She started every match and played in every game for MU in 2002 and led the team in digs with 361.
Freshman Jessica Vander Kooi was a "Fab 50 Recruit" and an All-State selection out of Hinton (Iowa) High School. She holds the school record for kills in a season with 388.
MIDDLE BLOCKER
Mizzou must fill a large hole at middle blocker as All-American Christi Myers exhausted her eligibility in 2002. The Tigers return three players who have experience at middle blocker and each spent time in the starting lineup last year.
Three freshman have joined the Tigers in 2003 at the middle blocker position and could find themselves on the court quickly.
Junior Jenny Duitsman played in 85 games for the Tigers last year and was second on the team behind Myers with a .323 hitting percentage. Duitsman hit over .300 in 13 matches last season. She averaged 1.55 kills and 0.89 blocks per game in 2002.
Sophomore Lisa Boyd will be looking to contribute more this season after injuries slowed her in 2002. She missed the first 13 matches of the season, but became a regular in the starting lineup late in the year. She was very impressive in the Tigers' two NCAA Tournament matches. She had seven kills and tied a career-high with four block assists.
Lindsey Noll is another sophomore who became very valuable in 2002 and will be counted on for more in 2003. Noll was fourth on the team in both kills (250) and attacks (592) last year and hit .264. She had a career-high 19 kills against Oklahoma and reached double-digits in kill nine times.
Freshmen Nicole Wilson, Melissa Allbery, and Kijuana Sherrod make up a very talented freshman class at middle blocker.
Allbery was an All-State first team and a Super State second team selection in 2002 at Gretna (Neb.) High School and set a school record with a .461 hitting percentage. Sherrod is from Blue Springs, Mo, where she led Blue Springs High in kills, kills per game, hitting percentage and blocks. Wilson was named to the Super State first team at Lincoln (Neb.) Christian High last year and was twice an All-State first team selection.
SETTER
Lindsey Hunter became the everyday setter for MU last year as a freshman and was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention and All-Central Region Honorable Mention after setting school records in assists and assists per game. She led the Big 12 Conference and was second in the nation in assists per game with a 14.08 assists per game average. She reached the 60-assists mark six times in 2002 including both of Mizzou's postseason matches. Hunter had a career-high 69 assists in the NCAA Tournament second-round match against Northern Iowa.
DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS
The Tigers have two well experienced defensive specialists on their roster. Senior Juliana Godoi enters her second season with Mizzou in 2003 after playing two seasons at Columbia College. Godoi, an All-American at Columbia College, played in 122 games for MU last season and recorded the team's only 20-dig match with a career-high 22 against Kansas. She had at least 15 digs four times in 2002 and reached double digits in digs in 10 matches.
Junior Sara Parks served as the Libero for Missouri last season after transferring from Nebraska. She was second on the team with 304 digs and a 2.69 digs per game average. She reached double digits in digs in 15 matches and had a career high with 19 digs against Iowa State.
The Tigers will gain two additional defensive specialist as Abbie Booth from Kansas City's Notre Dame de Sion and Katie Patterson out of Nerinx High School in St. Louis will join the team this fall.
SCHEDULE
As usual, Missouri will face a very difficult schedule as it combines a strong early season tournament schedule with the challenging Big 12 portion of the schedule.
The Tigers will open the year by hosting the 2nd Annual Quality Inn Tiger Invitational on Aug. 29-30. Joining MU in the season-opening tournament will be Montana State, Toledo and Arkansas.
Following the home tournament, MU will travel to Salt Lake City for the Utah Classic before heading to Milwaukee, Wis. To take part in the Marquette Challenge.
In Utah, Mizzou will face Utah Valley State, Washington State and host-school Utah. At the Marquette Challenge, Ohio, Bradley and Marquette join the Tigers.
Four teams of Missouri's schedule (Toledo, Utah, Montana State and Utah Valley State) will be facing the Tigers for the first time.
The Big 12 Conference season will open on Sept. 17 as MU travels to Baylor. The Tigers open and close the Big 12 season against Baylor as their matchup on Nov. 29 will be the final match of the regular season.
The Tigers were 14-6 in Big 12 play last year and finished third in the conference standings. They have finished in the top five in each of the previous three seasons and have placed in the top three twice, including a second place finish in 2000.
The turnaround of the Tiger volleyball team over the past three seasons has brought an unprecedented excitement level to the MU program. That level of excitement has led to high hopes for the 2003 season.
Last season saw the first postseason win in Tiger volleyball history and this season, Mizzou is looking for more postseason wins. As the Tigers celebrate the 30th anniversary of volleyball at Missouri this season, they hope to record another great season for the record books.