Sept. 19, 2003

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Mizzou opens its home Big 12 schedule on Saturday against Oklahoma...the match will start one hour following the completion of the MU vs. Middle Tennessee State football game...the Tigers opened up the Big 12 season on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Baylor...Mary Lauren Smith and Shen Danru led MU on Wednesday, each recording double-doubles...the win was the third straight win over Baylor for Mizzou...Susan and Wayne Kreklow are 4-0 in Big 12 openers since arriving in 2000...MU is not ranked this week for the first time since just over a year ago...the last time Missouri was not in the top 25 was Sept. 13, 2002...Missouri has won eight of the last nine matches against Oklahoma and the Tigers have not lost to OU under the Kreklows.

A Look Back
Mizzou opened the Big 12 Conference season by defeating Baylor in what turned out to be an exciting four-game match. After dominating the first two games, the Tigers had to battle Baylor in the next two games to claim the 3-1 (30-20, 30-11, 25-30, 33-31) win. Mary Lauren Smith and Shen Danru led the Tigers as each recorded double-doubles. Smith had a season-high 21 kills and a career-high 11 digs, while Danru also had 21 kills, along with 17 digs. Missouri took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 30-22 game one win behind Smith's nine kills and .727 hitting percentage. Smith also led the team in digs in the opening game with four. With the game tied at three, MU went on a 9-1 run to build a lead and led by as many as 12 at one point. The Tigers hit .324 in the opening game compared to a .024 mark for Baylor. Mizzou dominated game two, jumping out to an 11-0 lead and cruising to a 30-11 win. Missouri continued to dominate at the net, hitting .458 in the second game, while holding the Bears to a -.071 mark. Danru helped build the large lead by recording four aces in the game. She finished the match with five aces. Game three was a different story as Baylor picked up the 30-25 win to force a game four. Despite holding the lead for most of the game, MU lost the lead to the Bears at 25-24 and BU held on for the win. The back-and-forth battle continued in the fourth game as the lead switch hands several times. Baylor had game point at 29-28 but could not convert. Missouri, on its third game point, finally put the Bears away by taking the 33-31 win to close out the match.

Freshman Orientation
Freshman Jessica Vander Kooi has made an immediate impact for Mizzou. She made her first collegiate appearance in the season opener and has started every match for MU this year. In the Tiger Invitational, Vander Kooi averaged 2.30 kills per game and hit .340 in the three matches. She also averaged 2.30 digs per game. In the Tigers' first match at the Utah Classic, Vander Kooi led MU in aces (5), digs (10) and blocks (4). Two other freshman, Nicole Wilson and Abbie Booth, have seen their first playing time at Mizzou in the first three weeks of the season. Wilson is averaging 2.00 kills per game and is hitting .315 in 17 games played. She also averages 0.82 blocks per game.

Shen-anigans
Shen Danru has picked up where she left off last season. Danru was been named to the All-Tournament team in all three of Missouri's fall tournaments to open the year. She leads the Tigers in kills per game (4.12), digs per game (3.70) and aces per game (0.82). Danru also leads the Tigers with four double-doubles on the year. It did not take long for Danru to make an impact for the Tigers last year as she led the team in kills, attacks, aces, aces per game, digs and digs per game. She set a new Missouri record with 64 service aces on the year, breaking the old record of 61. She also led Mizzou in double-doubles with 21 on the season. Danru set a career high in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, by recording 23 kills in MU's win over Northwestern. She matched that career high in MU's second round matchup against Northern Iowa. Danru was an All-Big 12 Conference honorable mention selection.

Pulling Rank
Missouri fell out of the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 for the first time in just over one year. The Tigers received 50 points in the latest poll. The Tigers opened the year at No. 21 and had climbed to as high as No. 18 two weeks ago. This week marks the first time since Sept. 13, 2002 that MU was not included in the top 25. Each of the two teams to defeat Missouri this season are also receiving votes in the poll. Utah revieved 38 points and Ohio picked up nine. Two Big 12 teams are ranked with Nebraska at No. 8 and Kansas at No. 10. Texas A&M is among those receiving votes.

Aces Wild
Missouri tied a Utah Classic tournament record on Sept. 5 by recording 12 service aces, while holding Utah Valley State to just one. Jessica Vander Kooi led Mizzou with five aces in the match. The Tigers tied a school record for service aces in a three-game match with 17 in their season-opening match against Montana State. Lindsey Hunter led Mizzou with seven, followed by Shen Danru with six. Hunter and Danru each set career highs with their performances. Montana State, on the other hand, did not record a single ace in the match. MU leads the Big 12 Conference in aces with an average of 2.88 per game, nearly one ace ahead of second place Nebraska. Danru and Hunter are at the top of the Big 12 with 0.82 and 0.70 aces per game averages, respectivley.

Smith Goes Camping
As part of her summer vacation, Mary Lauren Smith took part in the USA Volleyball A2 Training Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. Smith was one of just 24 athletes chosen to take part in the program and she is the first Tiger player to ever be selected for the training session. Smith was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection last season, finishing with a 3.80 kills per game average. She had five matches in which she recorded at least 20 kills, including each of Missouri's postseason matches. Against Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, she had a career-high 28 kills and hit .358 to lead the Tigers to victory. She followed that with a 22-kill match against Northern Iowa in round two. Smith was named the AVCA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week on Sept.30, 2002 after recording back-to-back 20-kill matches against ranked opponents. She was also featured in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of the Oct. 21 issue of Sports Illustrated. She was also an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection.

Chart Climbers
Several Mizzou volleyball career records were broken last season and more records could fall this year. Lindsey Hunter is fourth on the all-time career assists charts after just one season with the Tigers. Her 1,690 assists last year is the best season mark in Tiger history. Hunter also holds the career record for assists per game with a 14.01 average. Shen Danru is the current record holder in career kills per game average with a 3.91 mark and Mary Lauren Smith is fifth in that category with a 3.15 average.

Up Next
MU will return to the Hearnes Center court at 7 p.m. on Wednesday to host Texas Tech. Following that match, the Tigers will travel to Texas A&M next Friday before returning home to host Kansas on Oct. 1.