Dec. 2, 2003

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Mizzou will be making its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament as it travels to Los Angeles to open postseason play this weekend ... the Tigers will face UC-Irvine in the first round on Friday ... the winner of the MU vs. UC-Irvine match will face the winner of the UCLA and San Diego match on Saturday ... Missouri advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2000, 2001 and 2002 ... the Tigers recorded the first postseason win in school history last year by defeating Northwestern in the first round, before falling to Northern Iowa in round two ... in 2001, Illinois defeated Mizzou in the opening round, and in 2000 MU fell to Utah in round one ... the Tigers finished the 2003 regular season with a 19-10 record ... Mizzou was 12-8 in the Big 12 Conference ... four Tigers were honored by the Big 12 Conference on Sunday ... Lindsey Hunter and Shen Danru were named to the All-Big 12 First Team ... Jessica Vander Kooi was selected as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Juliana Godoi was honored as the Big 12 Defensive Specialist of the Year.

Scouting UC-Irvine
UC-Irvine compiled a 23-9 record during the regular season and was 12-6 in the Big West Conference, finishing second in the conference standings behind UC-Santa Barbara. It won its final four matches of the season and finished by winning seven of the last eight. The Anteaters are led by Kelly Wing who sports a 5.72 kills per game average and a .254 hitting percentage. She also averages 3.02 digs per game and 0.72 blocks per game. She became the school's all-time leader in career kills last week. Terbrie Taylor follows Wing with a 3.05 kills per game mark and Sami Cash averages 2.79 kills per game and has a team-high .377 hitting percentage. Ashlie Hain is the UC-Irvine setter and averages 13.74 assists per game. Three Anteaters average over three digs a game. Along with Wing, Hain has a 3.20 digs per game average and Brenda Waterman leads with a 4.52 average.

Scouting UCLA
UCLA is the host team for this weekend's first and second rounds. The Bruins are the No. 8 seed in the 64-team field and will face San Diego in round one. They lost the last two matches of the regular season and dropped four of the final six. However, of the four losses, three were to teams ranked in the top seven in the nation. UCLA enters the weekend with a 21-8 overall record and was 12-6 in the Pac 10 Conference. Brynn Murphy leads the Bruins with a 3.86 kills per game average and is hitting .302. Chrissie Zartman is the team leader in digs with a 4.43 digs per game average. Cira Wright leads UCLA with a 1.08 blocks per game average, followed by Murphy with a 0.96 average.

Scouting San Diego
San Diego enters the tournament with a 17-12 overall record and finished 6-8 in the strong West Coast Conference. The Toreros were ranked as high as No. 16 in the country at one point this season. They come into the tournament on a six-match losing streak and have lost eight of their last 10 matches. Five of those losses have come to teams ranked in the top 20. Lindsey Sherburne is among the national leaders in assists with a 14.37 assists per game average. She also averages 2.52 digs per game. Devon Foster has a 5.10 kills per game mark to lead San Diego. Foster also sports a 2.79 digs per game average and a 0.43 aces per game mark.

MU vs. the Opponents
Of the three other teams in Los Angeles this weekend, MU has only faced San Diego before. The Tigers defeated San Diego in 1989 by a 3-1 score in the only meeting between the two squads. Missouri has never faced UC-Irvine or UCLA.

Mizzou Against the Field
Of the 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament, MU faced eight of those during the 2003 season (Nebraska, Texas A&M, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Utah, Arkansas and Ohio). The Tigers are 4-9 against tournament qualifiers with wins over Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Arkansas. Six Big 12 Conference teams have been selected for the tournament and three are among the top 16 seeds.