Oct. 22, 2004

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Mizzou will take on Colorado at Noon on Saturday in a Homecoming weekend match. The Tigers enter the weekend in a tie for third in the Big 12 with a 7-3 conference record and are 12-5 overall. Colorado brings a 10-7 overall record and a 5-5 Big 12 mark into the match with MU. Missouri swept the Buffaloes in a meeting earlier this season, taking a 30-26, 30-24, 33-31 over CU, which was ranked No. 25 at the time. The Tigers have won four of the last five matches against the Buffaloes, but CU still holds a commanding 29-7 lead in the all-time series. Along with the free admission to Saturday's match, a special Homecoming lunch special of a hot dog, a soda and popcorn for only $4 will be offered. Next up for the Tigers will be a road trip to College Station, Texas on Wednesday to face Texas A&M at 7 p.m. They will return home next Saturday to face Border Showdown rival Kansas at 7 p.m. in the Hearnes Center.

SCOUTING COLORADO
Colorado is 10-7 on the season and an even 5-5 in the Big 12 Conference heading into Saturday's match up with Missouri. It is currently in sixth place in the Big 12 Conference standings. The Buffaloes have lost two in a row after winning four of the previous five. They are coming off of a four-game loss to Texas A&M on Wednesday in Boulder. Allie Griffin and Maragda Santillana each average over four kills per game with 4.30 and 4.23 averages respectively. Griffin also has a 2.41 digs per game average which is second best on the team behind Nicole Carr's 2.62 average. Ashley Nu's is third in the Big 12 with 12.57 assists per game. Pi'i Aiu is in his eighth year as the Buffs head coach, compiling a record of 144-83 with CU.

SERIES RECORDS
CU holds a 29-7 lead in the all-time series with Mizzou, but the Tigers have won four of the last five meetings. Earlier this season, MU recorded a three-game sweep over the Buffaloes in Boulder. Colorado was ranked No. 25 at the time and was the third ranked opponent that the Tigers defeated this season. It was the second ever win for Missouri on Colorado's home court and improved the Tigers record under Susan and Wayne Kreklow to 6-3 against the Buffs.

LAST TIME OUT
COLUMBIA, Mo.-- The Mizzou volleyball team defeated Texas Tech 3-1 (30-20, 30-15, 26-30, 30-20) and has now won six of its last seven matches and remains in a tie for third place in the Big 12 at the halfway point of the conference season. Missouri (12-5, 7-3 Big 12) has won four in a row over the Red Raiders and seven of the last eight. It has won the last five against Texas Tech in Columbia. The Tigers had little trouble in the first two games of the match, taking the first game 30-20 and the second by a score of 30-15 to hold a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission. Game three would be a different story, as the lead switched hands several times with Tech taking its final lead at 25-24 and holding on for the win and forcing a game four. After hitting .381 and .457 in the first two games, Mizzou hit just .190 in the third game. MU jumped out to an early and led by as many as 12 and closed out the match with a 10-point win. With 14 digs on Wednesday, Shen Danru moved into eighth on the career digs list at Mizzou. Danru has 942 career kills and is 30 behind seventh place Sherri Gentry. The leader is Naaron Branson, who had 1,169 digs from 1998-2001. Lisa Boyd led the Tigers against TTU with 18 kills, followed by Jessica Vander Kooi's 17. Tatum Ailes had a team-best 19 digs and Lindsey Hunter had 57 assists.

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 101-42 record and four-consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. Earlier this season, Kreklow recorded her 600th career win and currently has a record of 610-152, good for an .801 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 both assists per game (15.92) and kills per game (17.55). The Tigers are also third in digs per game (16.19) and hitting percentage (.280). Individually, Lisa Boyd has moved into the lead in the Big 12 with a .393 hitting percentage, ahead of Nicole Wilson who is third with a .379 hitting percentage. Wilson is also in third in aces per game with an average of 0.47. Lindsey Hunter has a conference-best 14.17 assists per game average. Shen Danru is eighth in kills per game (4.03), Jessica Vander Kooi is ninth (3.95) and Tatum Ailes is third in digs per game (4.16).

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 4.03 kills per game average, which is eighth 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 1,182 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 932 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 3,978 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 14.11 average. Hunter has led the Big 12 in that category in each of her two previous seasons.

HITTING THEIR MARK
The Tigers are third in the Big 12 Conference with a .280 hitting percentage on the season. Lisa Boyd has taken over the lead in the Big 12 with a .393 hitting percentage. Boyd has hit above .300 twelve times this season and has had four matches where she hit at least .500, including two .800 hitting percentages. Nicole Wilson is third in the conference with a .379 hitting percentage. 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
Mizzou will head to College Station, Texas on Wednesday to face No. 16 Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Following that matchup, the Tigers will return to the Hearnes Center to take on Kansas at 7 p.m. on Saturday.