Sept. 14, 2004
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The Big 12 Conference season opens for Mizzou on Wednesday with a trip to Lincoln, Neb. Mizzou takes on Nebraska at 7 p.m. at the Nebraska Coliseum. MU enters the match with a 3-2 record on the season, while the Cornhuskers are 5-1 and ranked No. 8 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Coaches' Poll. The last time the two teams met in Lincoln was exactly 11 months ago, when the Tigers ended a string of straight losses to NU, by taking a 3-2 come-from-behind win on the Huskers' home court. It was the first win for Missouri over Nebraska since 1982 and the first Tiger victory in Lincoln since 1977. Nebraska took the first two games of the match last October, before the Tigers rallied to win the next three for the match victory. In the second matchup of the 2003 season, the Cornhuskers took a 3-0 win in Columbia. Following Wednesday's match in Lincoln, the Tigers will return home to face Baylor at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Hearnes Center.
SCOUTING NEBRASKA
Nebraska enters Wednesday's match with a 5-1 record and is ranked No. 8 in the latest USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25.
The Cornhuskers opened the year by taking a pair of matches against Notre Dame, then took a three-game sweep over Western Michigan.
Florida A&M handed Nebraska their only loss of the season, a 3-1 decision last Friday in Lincoln.
The Huskers rebounded to claim sweeps over Ball State on Saturday and Maryland on Sunday.
Freshman Sarah Paven leads Nebraska with a 4.81 kills per game average.
Junior Melissa Elmer, a second team All-American last year, has a 2.76 kills per game and a 1.67 blocks per game average and is hitting .325.
Junior Jennifer Saleaumua, a junior who was received All-American Honorable Mention last year has a team-best 4.10.
John Cook is in his 6th season as the Huskers head coach. He has compiled a record of 129-10 at NU and is 290-83 overall in 12 years as a head coach.
SERIES RECORDS
Nebraska holds a 57-3-1 lead in the all-time series with Missouri.
Last October, MU took a 3-2 win over the Huskers in Lincoln. It was the first win for Missouri in the series since 1982, snapping a 44-match losing streak. It was the first win for the Tigers since 1977.
LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers took wins in three of their four matches in last weekend's Tiger Invitational at the Hearnes Center.
Mizzou opened the weekend with a 3-1 loss to Creighton, but rebounded to win the next three matches.
On Friday night, MU downed Arkansas State 3-1, then defeated Mississippi State 3-0 before taking a 3-1 win over Idaho on Saturday.
Two Tigers, junior Lindsey Hunter and sophomore Nicole Wilson, were named to the All-Tournament Team. It was the third time in three seasons that Hunter has made the team and it was Wilson's first All-Tournament honor.
A HOMECOMEING ON THE ROAD
As Missouri returns to Nebraska on Wednesday, six Tigers will make their return to their home state.
This season, nearly half of the Tigers' roster hails from the Cornhusker state, as six of the 13 players on the squad are from Nebraska.
Two Tigers (Jenny Duitsman and Nicole Wilson) are from Lincoln and two more (Lindsey Hunter and Jilly Jaksich) are natives of Papillion.
Melissa Allbery is from Gretna and freshman Tatum Ailes comes to MU from Bellevue.
ELEVEN MONTHS AGO...
It was exactly 11 months ago when Mizzou defeated then-No. 8 Nebraska, 3-2 at Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln.
The Cornhuskers took a 2-0 lead in the match, before Missouri rallied to win the next three games.
In game five, MU jumped out to a 9-1 lead and held on for the 15-9 win, taking the match victory.
The win was just the third win form MU over the Huskers and snapped a 44-game losing streak to Nebraska dating back to 1982. It was the first win for the Tigers in Lincoln since 1977.
It was just the second time that the Cornhuskers had lost on their home court since the start of the Big 12 Conference.
That match, like this Wednesday's match, was played on the 15th of the month and was shown on CSTV. Also, last year Missouri was not ranked and Nebraska was ranked eighth, just as it is this year.
THE 600 CLUB
With Missouri's win over Arkansas State last Friday night, Head Coach Susan Kreklow picked up her 600th career victory.
Kreklow takes a 602-149 record into Wednesday's match with Nebraska.
Her record includes 10 seasons as head coach of the Columbia College women's team, three years with the Columbia College men's team and five season at Mizzou.
FRESHMEN ORIENTATION
A pair of Tigers got their first collegiate action for MU at the Badger Challenge and have started every match for MU this season.
Na Yang has recorded a double-double in four of Mizzou's six matches this season including 17 kills and 19 digs against Purdue on Sept. 4, both season highs.
Tatum Ailes leads MU with a 3.96 digs per game average. She has reached double-digits in digs in all but one match and has had at least 18 digs three times, including a season-high 22 digs against Purdue.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE
Junior setter Lindsey Hunter earned another honor this past summer when she was selected to take part in the USA National Training Team program.
The coach of the team was Nebraska head coach John Cook.
Hunter was named to the USA A2 Training Team. She was the starting setter for the team, which won the U.S. Open Championships in Atlanta, Ga. Hunter was also named to the All-Tournament Team of the Championships.
The USA Team was a perfect 4-0 in the tournament and was forced to five games in only one match, with the other three wins coming in three games.
The A2 team is primarily selected by invitation based on past performances in USA Volleyball. The setters were selected through an invitation weekend tryout at the United States Olympic Training