Oct. 20, 2004

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Mizzou returns to the Hearnes Center on Wednesday for the first of two-consecutive home matches, as MU hosts Texas Tech. The match will mark the mid-point of the Big 12 season as it is the tenth of 20 conference matches on the schedule. The Tigers are 11-5 on the year and 6-3 in the Big 12 Conference after recording a five-game win over Kansas last Saturday. They have won five of their last six matches this season. Texas Tech enters the match with a 7-8 overall record and a 3-6 Big 12 Conference mark. MU has won three straight over the Red Raiders and six of the last seven meetings. However, Texas Tech still holds an 11-6 lead in the all-time series. Kansas State and Texas A&M join the Tigers in a three-way tie for third place in the Big 12 Conference with a 6-3 conference record. On Saturday, Mizzou will host Colorado at the Hearnes Center. The match will begin at Noon and admission is free.

SCOUTING TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech is 7-8 on the season and 3-6 in the Big 12 Conference. The Red Raiders had a four-match win streak at one point in September, but have since lost six of the last eight. Senior outside hitter Kelly Johnson was an All-Big 12 First Team selection in 2002 and a conference Honorable Mention selection last season. Johnson leads the Red Raiders with 3.93 kills per game to go along with a 2.41 digs per game mark. Nancy Todd is in her second year as the Texas Tech head coach. Last season, Todd and the Red Raiders finished with an 11-18 record and were 3-17 in the Big 12 Conference. TTU is 11-6 against Mizzou all-time, but the Tigers have won six of the last seven meetings, including a sweep of last year's season series.

SERIES RECORDS
Texas Tech leads the series with Mizzou 11-6. After losing the first 10 meetings with TTU, Missouri has won six of the last seven matches. Of the eight matches played in Columbia, each team has won four.

LAST TIME OUT
LAWRENCE, Kan.-- For the fourth-consecutive time, the Mizzou and Kansas volleyball teams had to go to five games to determine a winner. On Saturday in Lawrence, the Tigers defeated the Jayhawks 27-30, 30-25, 30-21, 26-30, 15-7 to claim their fourth win in the last five matches against Kansas. Tied at six in the fifth game, the Tigers (11-5, 6-3 Big 12) would score six straight points and close out the game with a 9-1 run to claim the 15-7 win in the game and the match victory. The win was the 100th win for Head Coach Susan Kreklow at Missouri. Since arriving at MU in 2000, Kreklow has compiled a record of 100-42. The two teams split the first two games of the match with the Jayhawks claiming a 30-27 win in game one before Missouri took the second game by a score of 30-25. In each, game MU held an early lead before Kansas rallied to take the lead away from the Tigers. In game two, unlike game one, Mizzou was able to regain the lead at take the win. The Tigers once again took the lead to open game three and this time held it throughout the match. After jumping out to a 5-2 lead, Missouri continued to build on its and held its largest lead at the end of the game, winning by nine 30-21. Kansas (11-7, 2-7) was the one to take the lead to open game four. The Tigers would rally to take the lead away at 12-11, but KU quickly retook the lead at 16-15. It would hold on for the win, sending the match to the fifth and decisive game. Missouri out-blocked the Jayhawks on Saturday 15-2, led by Lindsey Noll who had two solo blocks as seven block assists. Shen Danru led the Tigers with 18 kills, followed by Jessica Vander Kooi's 13 and Noll's 12. Tatum Ailes had a team-high 17 digs.

GOING NATIONAL
Heading into the week, Mizzou was tied for fifth in the nation in kills per game with a 17.50 kills per game average. The Tigers are also seventh in assists per game and 22nd with a .275 hitting percentage. Individually, Lindsey Hunter is fourth in assists per game (14.10) and Lisa Boyd is 30th in hitting percentage (.378).

CENTURY MARK
With Mizzou's win over Kansas last Saturday, Susan Kreklow recorded her 100th win as the Tigers' head coach. Since arriving at Missouri in 2000, Susan and Wayne Kreklow have led the Tigers to a 100-42 record and four-consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. Earlier this season, Kreklow recorded her 600th career win and currently has a record of 609-152, good for an .800 winning percentage.

PULLING RANK
The Tigers defeated their third ranked opponent of the year on Oct. 9 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 assists per game (16.25) and is second in kills per game (17.50). The Tigers are also third in digs per game (16.07) and hitting percentage (.275). Individually, Lisa Boyd has moved into second in the league with a .378 hitting percentage, just ahead of Nicole Wilson who is third with a .377 hitting percentage. Wilson is also in a tie for fifth in aces per game with an average of 0.43. Lindsey Hunter has a conference-best 14.10 assists per game average. Shen Danru is seventh in kills per game (4.07), Jessica Vander Kooi is eighth (3.93) and Tatum Ailes is third in digs per game (4.12).

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 4.07 kills per game average, which is seventh 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 1,168 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 918 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.

A RECORD SETTER
In just her third season at Missouri, junior setter Lindsey Hunter has already moved into second place on the career assists chart at MU. She has 3,921 assists heading into Wednesday. Heather Gerber holds the school record with 4,955 assists from 1997-2000. Hunter set the season assists record in 2002, recording 1,690 as a freshman. Last season she had 1,413 assists, which is fourth all-time. She currently leads the Big 12 Conference and is fourth in the nation in assists per game with a 14.10 average. Hunter has led the Big 12 in that category in each of her two previous seasons.

HITTING THEIR STRIDE
The Tigers are third in the Big 12 Conference with a .275 hitting percentage on the season. Lisa Boyd and Nicole Wilson are second and third respectively in the Conference in hitting percentage. Boyd is hitting .378, just ahead of Wilson's .377. Boyd has hit above .300 eleven times this season and has had three matches where she hit at least .500, including two .800 hitting percentages. Wilson has hit over .300 in all but four matches this season and has hit over .500 four times, with a season-high .615 against SMS.

UP NEXT
On Saturday, Mizzou will host Colorado at Noon at the Hearnes Center. The match will kick off a full day of Tiger athletics. Admission to the match on Saturday will be free. Following volleyball, the MU football team will take on Oklahoma State at 2:30 p.m. Later that evening, the men's basketball team will host their Black and Gold scrimmage in the Paige Sports Arena.