Nov. 19, 2004

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With just over a week left in the regular season, Mizzou stands in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference with a 12-5 record in the league. MU is 17-7 overall on the season and ranked No. 25 in this week's USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches' Poll. On Saturday, the Tigers will face Baylor at 7 p.m. in Waco, Texas. The Bears are 12-17 on the season and 4-14 in the Big 12. Mizzou has won the last five against Baylor and eight of the last 10 match-ups, including a 3-1 win earlier this season in Columbia. If the Tigers were to win their remaining three matches on the year, they would set a new school record for Big 12 Conference victories in a season with 15. Missouri had 14 in both the 2000 and 2002 seasons. Mizzou will return home for the final home match of the season on Wednesday to take on Oklahoma at 7 p.m. The Tigers will then close out the regular season on Nov. 27 at Kansas State. The selections for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on Nov. 28, as MU looks to make its fifth straight postseason appearance.

SCOUTING BAYLOR
The Baylor Bears enter Saturday's match with a 12-17 overall record and a 4-14 mark in Big 12 Conference play. BU has lost three straight and eight of its last 10 matches. Desiree Guilliard-Young has a team-best .316 hitting percentage and holds a 2.87 kills per game average and a 1.36 blocks per game mark, which is seventh best in the Big 12. Adeline Meira is fifth best in the conference with 1.59 blocks per game. Stella Odion leads the Bears with a 3.08 kills per game mark, followed by Nicole LeBlanc's 3.00 average. Jim Barnes is in his first season as the Baylor head coach. He is in his ninth season overall as a head coach and has a career record of 175-115.

THE MU-BU SERIES
With its victory over Baylor earlier this season, Mizzou took a 9-8 lead in the all-time series with Baylor. MU has won the last five matches with BU and eight of the last 10. Missouri is 3-5 all-time in Waco.

LAST TIME OUT
COLUMBIA, Mo.-- No. 25 Mizzou had its four-match winning steak snapped as it fell to No. 3 Nebraska 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-19) at the Hearnes Center on Wednesday. The Tigers fell to 17-7 overall and 12-5 in the Big 12 Conference. The Tigers hit .312 on the night, the best hitting percentage by a team against Nebraska this season. Lindsey Noll led Mizzou by hitting .733 and had a team-high 11 kills. Nicole Wilson hit .462 with seven kills. Jessica Vander Kooi had 10 kills on the night. Tatum Ailes led the team in digs with 18 and Lindsey Hunter maintained her conference leading assists per game average with 44 on Wednesday. Both teams had impressive hitting performances in game one with Nebraska holding the edge .541 to .400 and took the 30-26 opening game win. The Tigers had a balanced attack, as five players had at least three kills led by Wilson's five. Noll led Mizzou in game two with six kills and Ailes had six digs in the game, but it wasn't enough to stop the Huskers. Nebraska took a 2-0 lead into the intermission with a 30-27 win in the second game. Nebraska (24-1, 17-0) took control of game three and was able to diffuse each comeback attempt by the Tigers. The Huskers took the 30-19 win to close out the match and record its sixth sweep in a row.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Several Tigers are on pace to move into the Mizzou season record books this year. Lindsey Hunter currently has 1,229 assists on the year, which puts her in seventh in season assists at MU. At her current pace, she would finish the season with 1,382 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 381 kills, which would be 10th on the Missouri season kills list. At her current pace, Shen Danru would finish with 387 kills, which would place her 11th and 1,006 attacks, which would be the eighth most in school history. If Lisa Boyd and Nicole Wilson were to maintain their hitting percentages of .387 and .380 respectively, they would take over the top two spots in the Tiger record book in season hitting percentage. Tatum Ailes is averaging 4.24 digs per game, which would be a new school record, easily passing the old record of 3.55 set by Naaron Branson in 2001.

MAKING THE GRADES
Seven Tigers were named to the Academic All-Big 12 team this week, tying Nebraska for the most selections in the conference. Abbie Booth, Lisa Boyd, Shen Danru, Lindsey Noll and Jessica Vander Kooi were named to the First Team, while Lindsey Hunter and Nicole Wilson earned Second Team recognition. The honor is the third for Danru and the second for Boyd, Noll and Hunter. Booth, Vander Kooi and Wilson are first-time selections. The seven selections are the most Academic All-Conference honors for Mizzou in school history.

NEARING ANOTHER RECORD
If Mizzou was to win its remaining three matches, it would set a new school record for Big 12 win in a season. The Tigers are currently 12-5 in the Big 12 and have matchups with Baylor, Oklahoma and Kansas State left on the schedule. In both 2000 and 2002, the Tigers were 14-6, which are the most conference wins in a season at Missouri.

POLL VAULTING
Missouri climbed into the USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches' Poll this week, coming in at No. 25. Over the last five years, MU has spent 41 weeks in the Top 25. Other Big 12 Conference teams in this week's poll include Nebraska (No. 3), Texas (No. 11) Texas A&M (No. 13) and Kansas State (No. 20).

CONFERENCE CALL
Missouri is the conference leader in kills per game with a 17.58 average and assists per game with a 16.08 mark. Shen Danru leads the team and is ninth in the Big 12 with a 3.96 kills per game average. Jessica Vander Kooi is 10th with a 3.94 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 .283 mark and hold two of the top three spots individually. Lisa Boyd leads the Big 12 with a .387 hitting percentage and Nicole Wilson is third with a .380 mark. Wilson is also fifth in aces per game with an average of 0.37. Tatum Ailes is third in the league standings in digs per game with a 4.24 average.

ON THE DEFENSIVE
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 third in the Big 12 with a 4.24 digs per game average. She had 20 digs in back-to-back matches earlier this month (vs. Texas Tech and Iowa State) 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 2.15 digs per game on the year.

PULLING RANK
Mizzou recorded its fourth victory over a ranked opponents this season with its 3-1 win over No. 9 Texas last Sunday. It was the first top-10 team the Tigers defeated this year. Earlier in the year MU defeated then-No. 15 ranked Texas A&M on Oct. 9. A week before that, MU swept No. 25 Colorado in Boulder and in the season opener, the Tigers defeated No. 23 Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. The win over Colorado and Wisconsin, each came on the opponent's home court.

GOING NATIONAL
Mizzou's 17.58 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 16.08 assists per game and their .283 hitting percentage ranks 14th. Lindsey Hunter's has a 14.29 assists per game average which is fifth best in the nation. Lisa Boyd is 13th nationally with a .387 hitting percentage.