Nov. 14, 2004
COLUMBIA, Mo.-- - The Tiger volleyball team picked up its fourth win over a ranked opponent this season with a 3-1 (30-23, 30-24, 22-30, 31-29) win over No. 9 Texas on Sunday at the Hearnes Center. With the win, Mizzou moves into a tie for third place in the Big 12 Conference with four matches remaining in the regular season.
Shen Danru led the Tigers with 22 kills, to go along with a .400 hitting percentage and 12 digs. With the 12 digs, she moved into sixth place on the career digs list at Missouri with 1,003 digs as a Tiger. Lisa Boyd added 15 kills and Jessica Vander Kooi had 13 kills and 14 digs for her team-leading 17th double-double of the year. Tatum Ailes led MU with 15 digs.
Mizzou (17-6, 12-4 Big 12) used a .538 hitting percentage in game one to take a 1-0 lead in the match with a 30-23 win. Four Tigers hit over .400 in the game and Boyd and Nicole Wilson each hit .800 in the opening game. Boyd had eight kills on 10 attacks, while Wilson had four kills on five attacks.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 30-24 win in game two. MU out-hit Texas .333 to .191. Missouri had six blocks in the game and had 10 blocks through the first two games, as compared to the Longhorns' one block.
Despite eight kills from Shen Danru in game three, Texas took a 30-22 win to force a fourth game. The Longhorns hit .500 in the game, while MU had just a .213 hitting percentage.
Game four was a back-and-forth game with MU building a 22-19 lead. But UT would rally to tie the score at 25 and took the lead at 26-25 before MU would score two straight points to regain the lead. Mizzou held game and match point at 29-28, but Texas was able to hold off the Tiger celebration, tying the score at 29. However, Missouri would score the next two points to close out the game and match.
Mizzou has won eight of the last nine against the Longhorns and have won five straight at home. The win is the fourth over a ranked team and the first against a team in the top 10 this season.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Tigers are tied with Texas A&M with a 12-4 record in the Big 12. Nebraska (16-0) leads followed by Texas (13-3). Kansas State is in fifth place with an 11-5 conference mark.
The Tigers will return to the court at the Hearnes Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday against No. 3 ranked Nebraska.