Tigers Face Aggies on 'Bust the House' Night at Hearnes
10/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2004
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Missouri brings a three-match winning streak back to the Hearnes Center on Saturday as it faces Texas A&M at 7 p.m. The Tigers have swept three consecutive matches for the first time since October of 2002 after taking a 3-0 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday. The win was the ninth straight for Mizzou over the Sooners. Now 9-4 overall on the year, MU is 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference. Texas A&M enters the weekend with an 8-4 record and a 4-2 conference mark. Saturday is "BUST THE HOUSE" night at the Hearnes Center as the Tigers attempt to break the all-time attendance record of 2,344 set last October against Texas A&M. Next week, Mizzou will return to the road, traveling to Austin, Texas on Wednesday to face Texas before a road trip to Lawrence, Kan. next Saturday to take on the rival Jayhawks. The next home action for the Tigers will be Oct. 20, when Texas Tech visits the Hearnes Center.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M enters the weekend with an 8-4 overall record and is 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference.
The Aggies have won their last two matches (vs. Baylor and Texas Tech) after dropping back-to-back matches to Kansas State and Nebraska.
They are ranked No. 15 in the latest USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches' Poll. Last season, A&M finished ranked No. 16 after a 23-10 season and a trip to the Regional Semifinals.
Melissa Munsch, an Second Team All-American last season, is averaging 3.58 kills, 3.30 digs and 1.73 blocks per game.
Laura Jones, an All-Big 12 selection in 2003, has a 4.45 kills per game average and is hitting .248 and Christi Hahn has a team-leading .349 hitting percentage.
Laurie Corbelli is in her 12th season as the Texas A&M head coach and has compiled a 267-99 record with the Aggies.
SERIES RECORDS
Texas A&M holds the lead in the all-time series with Mizzou, 16-3 and has a 6-2 record in matches played in Columbia.
The Aggies have won the last three meetings and six of the last seven contest in the series.
LAST TIME OUT
NORMAN, Okla.-- Mizzou picked up its third sweep in a row, defeating Oklahoma 30-18, 30-23, 30-22 on Wednesday in Norman, Okla. The win is the ninth straight for the Tigers over OU and Missouri has won 11 of the last 12 against the Sooners.
Oklahoma scored the first two points of game one, before the Tigers put together a 10-2 run, taking a 10-4 lead. The Sooners cut the lead to two at 10-8, but would get no closer. Ahead 14-11, the Tigers scored eight straight points to build an 11-point lead and would hold a comfortable lead the remainder of the game, taking a 30-18 game one victory.
Jessica Vander Kooi had nine kills, hit .615 and had an ace in the opening game, leading the Tigers' on their way to taking the 1-0 lead in the match. Mizzou hit .444 in game one, while holding the Sooners to a .098 hitting percentage.
Game two was much closer as the two teams traded the lead several times before the Tigers finally pulled away at the end, scoring the final five points of the game to take the 30-23 win and a 2-0 match lead into the intermission.
Shen Danru has six kills in the second game to lead MU. Tatum Ailes had four digs for the second straight game.
Mizzou took the early lead in game three, but Oklahoma would stay within striking distance and would tie the game at 16. The Tigers closed out the match with a 14-8 run to take the game and match victory.
Vander Kooi finished with 17 kills, followed by Danru with 15 and Lisa Boyd with 11. Ailes had 13 digs to lead Mizzou.
SWEEPING UP
Not only do the Tigers carry a three-match winning streak into Saturday's match with Texas A&M, MU has a string of three consecutive sweeps in tact, after a 3-0 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday.
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 last Saturday and Oklahoma this past Wednesday.
PULLING RANK
The Tigers defeated their second ranked opponent of the year last Saturday, with a 3-0 win over then No. 25 Colorado in Boulder.
Both wins against Top 25 teams have come on the opponent's home floor.
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.
CONFERENCE CALL
Missouri is well represented in the Big 12 Conference statistical categories. As a team, MU leads the conference in kills per game (17.98) and assists per game (16.28).
The Tigers are also third in digs per game (16.28) and hitting percentage (.272).
Individually, Nicole Wilson is third in the Big 12 in hitting percentage with a .406 mark and is tied for third in aces per game with a 0.50 average.
Lindsey Hunter has a conference-best 14.33 assists per game average.
With a .359 hitting percentage, Lisa Boyd is sixth in the conference standings.
Shen Danru is fifth in kills per game (4.27) and Jessica Vander Kooi is eighth (4.02). Tatum Ailes is third in digs per game (4.15).
JVK IS AOK
Last year's Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year Jessica Vander Kooi has a 4.02 kills per game average and a 3.24 digs per game mark heading into Saturday.
In Mizzou's last five matches, Vander Kooi is averaging 5.13 kills per game, 3.73 digs per game and has a .381 hitting percentage.
She has a double-double in three of those five matches. Vander Kooi has nine double-doubles on the year to lead the team.
Included in those double-doubles was a 20-kill, 22-dig performance against Purdue on Sept. 4, both season highs.
Along with being named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2003, she was also selected the Central Region Freshman of the Year, making her a finalist for National Freshman of the Year.
A RECORD SETTER
In just her third season at Missouri, junior setter Lindsey Hunter has already moved into third on the career assists chart at MU.
She has 3,762 assists heading into the match against Oklahoma, and is just 50 assists behind second place Cindy Attebery (1990-93). 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 in assists per game with a 14.33 average. Hunter has led the Big 12 in that category in each of her two previous seasons.
NIC AT NIGHT
Sophomore Nicole Wilson not only leads the team with a .406 hitting percentage, that mark is also third best in the Big 12 Conference.
She has hit below .300 just three times this season and has hit over .500 four times including a season-high .615 against Southeast Missouri State on Sept. 21.
Wilson has had at least nine kills in 10 of MU's 13 matches this season.
Another category in which Wilson leads is aces per game. She leads the team and is tied for third in the Big 12 with a 0.50 average.
She had a career-high six aces against Arkansas State on Sept. 10 and has had at least three aces in five matches.
SHEN SPLINTS
Junior Shen Danru leads the Tigers with a 4.27 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 fourth place at MU with 1,128 career kills. She needs just 19 more kills to move into third all-time at Mizzou.
Yvette Buhlig holds the school record with 1,478 career kills form 1988-92.
Danru is also in the top ten in career digs as a Tiger, as her 880 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.
NEAR PERFECTION
From Sept. 18-25, senior Jenny Duitsman was near perfection.
Against Baylor on the 18th, Duitsman had four kills on four attacks and followed that with three kills on three attacks against Southeast Missouri State on Sept. 21.
On Sept. 25, Duitsman one kill on two assists, making her total for the three matches, eight kills on nine attacks for an .889 hitting percentage.
She has had three matches in her career in which she has hit 1.000. The first was in 2002 when she was a perfect 9-for-9 against UMKC.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will return to the road on Wednesday with a trip to Austin, Texas to face the Longhorns followed by a visit to Lawrence, Kan. to take on the Jayhawks next Saturday. MU returns home on Oct. 20 to host Texas Tech at 7 p.m.
