Nov. 14, 2003
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After back-to-back home matches, Missouri will take to the road on Saturday to face Oklahoma ... with two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Tigers are 16-9 overall and 9-7 in the Big 12 ... Oklahoma enters the weekend with an 11-16 overall mark and a 3-12 Big 12 record ... MU has dropped five straight matches, which is its longest skid since losing six in a row in October of 1999 ... the Tigers are coming off a five-game defeat to No. 5 Kansas State on Wednesday ... earlier in the season, Mizzou defeated Oklahoma in a three-game sweep in Columbia ... the Tigers have won the last seven meeting and nine of the last 10 ... Susan andWayne Kreklow are a perfect 7-0 against the Sooners.
Scouting the Sooners
Oklahoma is 11-16 on the year and 3-12 in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners have dropped two straight matches, to Texas A&M and Kansas, and three of the last four. OU put together a six-match winning streak earlier in the year in the non-conference portion of its schedule, but has since gone 5-13. Freshman Joanna Schmitt leads the Sooners in both kills per game (4.30) and digs per game (2.71). Her kills per game average is fourth best in the Big 12 Conference.
The MU-OU Series
The Sooners lead the all-time series 31-24, but Missouri has won seven straight against Oklahoma and nine of the last 10 meetings. Since Susan and Wayne Kreklow arrived at Mizzou in 2000, MU is a perfect 7-0. During the seven match stretch, five of the Tiger victories have been three-game sweeps.
A Look Back
After winning the first two game of its match against No. 5 Kansas State on Wednesday, the Missouri volleyball team was unable to close out the win as KSU rallied to win the next three games and hand MU its fifth straight loss of the season.
The teams showed why they are near the top of the Big 12 Conference in aces on the year in game one. Mizzou, the league leader in aces per game, had seven aces led by Shen Danru. Danru lead the conference individually, had four aces in the opening game including two in a row to give MU the lead at 27-25. The Danru aces came in midst of a Mizzou 7-2 run to close out the game. Kansas State had three aces of its own in the first game, two by Valeria Hejjas.
After the Wildcats won the first three points of game two, Missouri stormed back with a 4-0 run to take the lead. KSU retook the lead but was unable to hold on to it when MU used a 6-0 run to build a lead of five at 15-10. The Tigers then put the game away winning nine straight points and 11 of the last 13 points to easily take the game two win.
Danru's serve gave Mizzou the early lead in game three, as MU jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two of the points being aces by Danru. Missouri held the lead for much of the third game until the Wildcats took the lead away from the Tigers at 28-27 before going on to the 31-29 win to send the match to game four.
The Wildcats forced a fifth game by taking game four 30-20. Missouri had nine blocks in the game, but had a -.026 hitting percentage. Kansas State carried the momentum into game five where it took and held control of the game on its way to a 15-9 win to conclude the comeback victory.
Danru had another double-double, the 14th of the season for her as she had 15 kills and a career-high 24 digs. She also finished with a career-high 7 aces.
Lindsey Hunter and Jessica Vander Kooi added double-doubles and Sara Parks had 19 digs for the Tigers.
Up Next
Missouri has four matches remaining in the regular season starting Saturday at Oklahoma. MU will host Iowa State on Wednesday, then travels to Colorado on Nov. 22, before closing out the regular season at home against Baylor on Nov. 29.