Nov. 13, 2004

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Listen To Game Action Here

Mizzou will host Texas in a special Sunday match at the Hearnes Center. With five matches left in the regular season, the Tigers are in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference with an 11-4 record. Texas is second in the Big 12 with a 13-2 record and is 21-2 overall on the year. After opening the season with 16 straight wins, the Longhorns dropped two straight, but have since won their last five matches. Missouri has won 10 of their last 12 on the season and is 16-6 overall. Earlier in the year, Texas took a 3-0 win over the Tigers in Austin. However, Mizzou has won seven of the last nine matches against UT and has won the last four matches against the Longhorns in Columbia. Sunday's match is the first of two consecutive home matches for MU. On Wednesday, the Tigers will welcome Nebraska to the Hearnes Center at 7 p.m. MU then has matches with Baylor, Oklahoma and Kansas State remaining on its schedule.

SCOUTING TEXAS
After opening the season 16-0, the Longhorns dropped back-to-back matches to Texas A&M and Nebraska, but have since won their last five. Texas is in second place in the Big 12 Conference with a 13-2 conference record. It is 21-2 overall on the year and ranked No. 9 in the latest USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches' Poll. The Longhorns lead the Big 12 with a .315 hitting percentage and are second in kills (17.24), assists (15.74) and aces (1.68). Mira Topic has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week three times this season and leads the conference with a 5.74 kills per game mark. She is coming off a 33-kill performance in UT's five-game win over Texas A&M on Thursday.

THE MU-UT SERIES
Texas holds a 10-7 lead in the all-time series with Mizzou and has won the last two meetings. Before Texas won the last two matches, the Tigers had won the previous seven straight outings. MU has won the last four times the two teams have met in Columbia.

LAST TIME OUT
AMES, Iowa-- Mizzou volleyball continued its dominance of Iowa State with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-18, 30-22) win on Wednesday in Ames, Iowa. It was the 16th consecutive victory for the Tigers over ISU. Missouri (16-6, 11-4 Big 12) picked up its eighth sweep of the season with three-game victory and the sweep is the 13th over Iowa State during the 16-match winning streak. With the win, the Tigers sweep the season series with Iowa State (8-17, 1-15). With five of Mizzou's season series complete in Big 12 play, the Tigers have swept four. MU won each of the first two games by 30-18 scores, doing it in dominating fashion. In game one, the Tigers hit .389 while holding the Cyclones to just a -.021 hitting percentage. Mizzou out-hit Iowa State 17-10, out-dug ISU 22-16 and held a six to one advantage in blocks in the opening game. Game two was similar to the first as Missouri out-hit Iowa State .279 to .023 and 18 kills compared to the Cyclones eight. Mizzou also recorded an impressive 27 digs in the second game. The Cyclones came out a different team after the intermission, jumping out to a 14-9 lead in the third game. However, Mizzou would comeback, using an 11-1 run to build a 20-15 lead. For the match, MU hit .312 and held Iowa State to a .043 hitting percentage. Lisa Boyd led Mizzou with a .565 hitting percentage and 14 kills. Nicole Wilson added 11 kills for the Tigers. Tatum Ailes had 20 digs for the second straight match to lead the team, followed by Jessica Vander Kooi's 15, Shen Danru's 14 and Lindsey Hunter's 13. As a team, the Tigers had 71 digs.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Several Tigers are on pace to move into the Mizzou season record books this year. Lindsey Hunter currently has 1,129 assists on the year, which puts her in eighth in season assists at MU. At her current pace, she would finish the season with 1,358 assists, placing her fifth. Hunter already holds the top spot with 1,690 as a freshman in 2002. She had 1,413 last year which is fourth most in school history. The 14.29 assists per game average Hunter currently holds would become the new record, passing her mark of 14.08 in 2002. Jessica Vander Kooi is on pace to finish with 388 kills, which would be ninth on the Missouri season kills list. At her current pace, Shen Danru would finish with 378 kills, which would place her 10th and 1,023 attacks, which would be the 11th most in school history. If Lisa Boyd and Nicole Wilson were to maintain their hitting percentages of .400 and .385 respectively, they would take over the top two spots in the Tiger record book in season hitting percentage. Tatum Ailes is averaging 4.20 digs per game, which would be a new school record, easily passing the old record of 3.55 set by Naaron Branson in 2001.

CONFERENCE CALL
Missouri is the conference leader in kills per game with a 17.63 average and assists per game with a 16.09 mark. Jessica Vander Kooi leads the team and is ninth in the Big 12 with a 4.00 kills per game average. Lindsey Hunter leads the conference with a 14.29 assists per game average. She has led the Big 12 in assists per game since beginning her career at MU in 2002. The Tigers are third in hitting percentage with a .280 mark and hold two of the top three spots individually. Lisa Boyd leads the Big 12 with a .400 hitting percentage and Nicole Wilson is third with a .385 mark. Wilson is also sixth in aces per game with an average of 0.39. Tatum Ailes is fourth in the league standings in digs per game with a 4.20 average.

ON THE DEFENSIVE
Missouri has a history of great defensive specialists play and that continues this year. Two of the last three Big 12 Defensive Specialist of the Year have come from Mizzou (Katie Sowers in 2001 and Juliana Godoi in 2003). This year freshman Tatum Ailes and sophomore Abbie Booth have provided more strong play at the DS position. Ailes has started every match at libero this season and is fourth in the Big 12 with a 4.20 digs per game average. She has had 20 digs in the last two matches and has had three matches of at least 20 digs this season. Her career high came in the first meeting with Iowa State when she had 23. Booth had a career-high 19 digs to lead MU against Texas A&M on Oct. 27. Since the Tigers' match against Iowa State on Sept. 29, Booth has been a regular in the lineup and has made six starts. She has reached double digits in digs four times including 13 in Mizzou's first meeting with Kansas this season. Booth is averaging 2.20 digs per game on the year.

GOING NATIONAL
Mizzou's 17.63 kills per game average not only leads the Big 12, but is fourth best in the nation. The Tigers also rank seventh in the nation in assists with 16.09 assists per game and their .280 hitting percentage ranks 19th. Lindsey Hunter's has a 14.29 assists per game average which is fourth best in the nation. Lisa Boyd is 18th nationally with a .400 hitting percentage and Nicole Wilson's .385 mark is 21st best.

UP NEXT
The Tigers will host Nebraska on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Hearnes Center. MU will then travel to Baylor on Nov. 20 and host Oklahoma on Nov. 24 before closing out the regular season at Kansas State on Nov. 27.