Oct. 15, 2004

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Missouri will be on the road again on Saturday, as it travels to Lawrence, Kan. to take on Border Showdown rival Kansas at 7 p.m. The Tigers are 10-5 overall on the season and 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference, while KU enters with an 11-6 record and a 2-6 Big 12 mark. MU is coming off a loss to Texas on Wednesday which snapped a four-match winning streak for the Tigers. The Jayhawks defeated Iowa State in five games on Wednesday to snap a five-match losing streak. With this Saturday's match, Mizzou and Kansas will continue the Border Showdown series. The next win for MU will give Susan Kreklow her 100th win as the Tiger head coach. Since arriving at Missouri in 2000, Susan and Wayne Kreklow have a record of 99-42.

SCOUTING KANSAS
Kansas snapped a five-match losing streak on Wednesday by defeating Iowa State, 3-2 (30-23, 29-31, 28-30, 30-24, 15-5). The Jayhawks are 11-6 overall on the season and 2-6 in the Big 12 Conference. They opened the year by winning their first eight matches and 10 of their first 11, before the five-match skid. An All-Big 12 selection last season, Josi Lima leads KU with a 3.58 kills per game average. Ashley Michaels, an conference Honorable Mention selection last year, has a team-high 1.63 blocks per game and is averaging 3.13 kills per game and has a .328 hitting percentage. Ray Bechard is in his 7th year as the Kansas head coach and has compiled a record of 115-87 as the Jayhawks head coach.

SERIES RECORDS
Missouri is 38-31 all-time against Kansas and has won three of the last four and six of the last eight in the series. Last year the two teams split the series, with each team winning in five games on the opponent's home court. The Tigers are 6-2 against the Jayhawks under Susan and Wayne Kreklow.

LAST TIME OUT
AUSTIN, Texas-- Mizzou had its four-match winning streak snapped on Wednesday as Texas defeated the Tigers 3-0 (33-31, 30-22, 30-23) in Austin. MU is now 10-5 on the season and 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference, while Texas remained undefeated at 16-0 overall and 8-0 in the Big 12. Shen Danru moved into third place in career kills at Mizzou with seven on Wednesday night, giving her 1,150 for her career. Christi Myers is second with 1,476 and Yvette Buhlig holds the record with 1,478. Texas jumped out to a 5-0 lead to open game one and led by as much as seven at 9-2. The margin remained seven as 12-5 when Mizzou scored five straight points to pull within two. The Tigers would later tie the game at 15, before a 4-0 run by the Longhorns. However, MU followed with a 5-1 run to tie it again at 21. Late in the opening game, Missouri would go on a 4-0 run and hold game point at 29-28, its first lead of the game. A service error by the Tigers kept Texas alive. MU would hold game point twice more, but were unable to put the Longhorns away. Texas would take the game-one win on its first game point. The start of game two was similar to the first game, with the Longhorns jumping out to a quick lead at 4-0. Mizzou would try to rally, cutting the UT lead to two at 9-7, but it would get no closer. Texas would hold onto the lead the entire game and took a 2-0 lead into the intermission. The Longhorns would put together a run early in the third game, this time coming with the score tied at two. Texas would score four straight points to hold a 6-2 lead. Mizzou would cut the lead to two but that was as close as the Tigers would get. After defeating the Longhorns seven consecutive times, Mizzou has now dropped back-to-back matches to Texas, both on the road. The two teams will meet again on Nov. 14 in Columbia.

GOING NATIONAL
Heading into the week, Mizzou was second in the nation in kills per game, trailing only Ohio State. The Tigers are also third in assists per game and No. 21 in hitting percentage. Individually, Lindsey Hunter is third in assists per game and Nicole Wilson is 18th in hitting percentage.

BORDER SHOWDOWN
The MU-KU rivalry will renew with Saturday's volleyball matchup in Lawrence. In 2002, the two schools began the Border Showdown (formerly known as the Border War) series, which is a year-long, all-sports competition. Mizzou ran away with the inaugural competition in 2002-03, winning by a margin of 32.0-8.5. Kansas took the win last year with a 21.5-18.5 score. The Jayhawks scored the first points of this academic year, by recording a soccer victory over MU on Oct. 8, giving them a 3-0 lead in the Showdown.

CENTURY MARK
With the next Mizzou victory, Susan Kreklow will record her 100th win as the Tigers' head coach. Since arriving at Missouri in 2000, Susan and Wayne Kreklow have led the Tigers to a 99-42 record and four-consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. Earlier this season, Kreklow recorded her 600th career win and currently has a record of 608-152, good for an .800 winning percentage.

CROWD PLEASERS
Mizzou once again set a new attendance record as 2,683 fans saw the Tigers' victory over Texas A&M last Saturday at the Hearnes Center. That attendance broke the previous record of 2,344 set last year also against Texas A&M. At the start of the week, MU's average attendance of 1,312 was the 18th highest average in the nation. That average is fifth best in the Big 12 Conference.

PULLING RANK
The Tigers defeated their third ranked opponent of the year last Saturday, with a 3-1 win over No. 15 Texas A&M. The previous Saturday, MU swept No. 25 Colorado in Boulder. Mizzou's first win over a ranked team came in the season opener, when it defeated then-No. 23 Wisconsin 3-1 in Madison, Wis. The win over Colorado and Wisconsin, each came on the opponent's home court.

CONFERENCE CALL
Missouri is well represented in the Big 12 Conference statistical categories. As a team, MU leads the conference in kills per game (17.87) and assists per game (16.25). The Tigers are also third in digs per game (16.25) and hitting percentage (.271). Individually, Nicole Wilson is second in the Big 12 in hitting percentage with a .497 mark and is fifth in aces per game with a 0.45 average. Lindsey Hunter has a conference-best 14.38 assists per game average. With a .372 hitting percentage, Lisa Boyd is fourth in the conference standings. Shen Danru is seventh in kills per game (4.12), Jessica Vander Kooi is eighth (4.06) and Tatum Ailes is third in digs per game (4.19).

SWEEPING UP
With its 3-0 win over Oklahoma on Oct. 6, Missouri swept its third straight opponent. It was the first time MU had swept three-consecutive matches since October of 2002. The streak began on Sept. 29, with a three-game victory over Iowa State at home. Since then, Mizzou has had back-to-back road sweeps, defeating Colorado on Oct. 2 and Oklahoma on Oct. 6.

SHEN SPLINTS
Junior Shen Danru leads the Tigers with a 4.12 kills per game average, which is fifth best in the Big 12. She has led Mizzou in kills per game since her freshman year in 2002. Danru has moved into third place at MU with 1,150 career kills. Yvette Buhlig holds the school record with 1,478 career kills form 1988-92. Mizzou's first-ever All-American, Christi Myers, is second with 1,476 kills from 1999-2002. Danru is also in the top ten in career digs as a Tiger, as her 901 digs place her eighth in school history. She holds second and fourth place on Missouri's season kills list, recording 477 as a freshman in 2002 and 259 as a sophomore last season. In addition, she is the school record holder for aces in a season with 64 in 2002 and her 405 digs last season is second best in Mizzou history.

UP NEXT
The Tigers will return to the Hearnes Center on Wednesday to host Texas Tech at 7 p.m. The following Saturday, Colorado will visit Columbia to take on Mizzou at Noon.