Nov. 23, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Missouri enters the final week of the regular season in a tie for third place in the Big 12 Conference with a 13-5 league record and an 18-7 overall mark. The Tigers' 13-5 conference record is tied with Texas A&M in the league standings. Texas A&M will host Kansas State on Wednesday and Nebraska on Saturday, while MU will travel to Kansas State on Saturday after Wednesday's match with Oklahoma. With a win on Wednesday, Mizzou would tie a school record for Big 12 Conference wins in a season. The 2000 and 2002 MU teams each were 14-6. Oklahoma is 11-16 overall on the season and 3-15 in the Big 12. The Tigers have won nine consecutive matches against the Sooners with OU's last win in the series coming in 1999. Missouri's match against Kansas State will conclude the regular season. The selections for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on Sunday at 5:45 p.m. on ESPNEWS. MU will be looking to receive its fifth straight postseason selection.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma is 11-16 on the season and 3-15 in the Big 12 Conference heading into Wednesday's match-p with Mizzou.
The Sooners have lost three straight and seven of their last eight. MU will be the third straight ranked opponent for Oklahoma, who lost to No. 20 Kansas State and No. 3 Nebraska last week.
OU opened the year with eight straight wins, but followed that with an eight-match losing streak.
Sophomore Joanne Schmitt leads Oklahoma with 4.08 kills per game and is second on the team with a 2.62 digs per game mark.
The Sooners are under the direction of first-year head coach Santiago Restrepo. In seven season as a head coach, Restrepo has a career record of 138-92.
THE MU-OU SERIES
Missouri has won nine straight over Oklahoma and 11 of the last 12 meetings. However, OU still holds a 31-26 lead in the all-time series.
The last Sooner win in the series came in November of 1999.
MU has won six straight in Columbia, with Oklahoma's last win on the Tigers' home court coming in 1997.
LAST TIME OUT
WACO, Texas-- The Tiger volleyball team recorded its ninth three-game sweep of the season with a 30-26, 30-23, 30-19 win over Baylor on Saturday night in Waco, Texas. Mizzou has won six straight over the Bears and nine of the last 11 match-ups between the two teams.
Missouri (18-7, 13-5 Big 12) used a balanced attack in the opening game to take a 1-0 lead in the match with a 30-26 win. Jessica Vander Kooi had five kills on 14 attacks and Shen Danru had five kills on 13 attacks, while Nicole Wilson added four kills on 12 attacks. Baylor (12-18, 4-15) led to begin the opening game, with MU taking the lead away from the Bears at 20-19 and holding on for the 30-26 win.
Vander Kooi and Danru again led MU in game two. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead behind eight kills from Vander Kooi and six from Danru. MU hit .415 in the second game. Lindsey Hunter had 18 assists in game two, well above her Big 12 Conference leading 14.29 assists per game average.
Missouri finished off the sweep by controlling game three from start to finish. Mizzou out-hit BU .394 to .133 in the third game and took a 30-19 win to close out the victory. Boyd led MU in the final game with five kills.
Vander Kooi finished with 17 kills to lead MU and added 11 digs for her team-leading 18th double-double of the year. Danru had 14 kills and Boyd finished with 12. Ailes tied Vander Kooi for the team-lead with 11 digs, while Danru and Hunter each had 10 digs.
POLL VAULTING
Missouri climbed into the USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches' Poll last week, coming in at No. 25 and this week has moved up to 24th.
Over the last five years, MU has spent 42 weeks in the Top 25.
Other Big 12 Conference teams in this week's poll include Nebraska (No. 2), Texas (No. 11) Texas A&M (No. 18) and Kansas State (No. 23).
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Several Tigers are on pace to move into the Mizzou season record books this year.
Lindsey Hunter currently has 1,279 assists on the year, which puts her in sixth in season assists at MU. At her current pace, she would finish the season with 1,381 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 14.37 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 384 kills, which would be 10th on the Missouri season kills list.
At her current pace, Shen Danru would finish with 379 kills, which would place her 11th and 1,003 attacks, which would be the eighth most in school history.
If Lisa Boyd and Nicole Wilson were to maintain their hitting percentages of .399 and .376 respectively, they would take over the No. 1 and No. 3 spots in the Tiger record book in season hitting percentage.
Tatum Ailes is averaging 4.22 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
A win on Wednesday for Missouri, would tie a school record for most Big 12 wins in a season.
The Tigers are 13-5 on the year and have matches with Oklahoma and Kansas State remaining on the schedule.
In both 2000 and 2002, the Tigers were 14-6, which are the most conference wins in a season at Missouri.
A victory in each of the last two matches would set a new record for conference wins for MU in Big 12 matches.
CONFERENCE CALL
Missouri is the conference leader in kills per game with a 17.64 average and assists per game with a 16.12 mark.
Jessica Vander Kooi leads the team and is ninth with 4.00 kills per game. Shen Danru is 10th with a 3.99 kills per game average.
Lindsey Hunter leads the conference with a 14.37 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 second in hitting percentage with a .285 mark and hold two of the top three spots individually.
Lisa Boyd leads the Big 12 with a .399 hitting percentage and Nicole Wilson is third with a .376 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 4.22 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 4.22 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 2.07 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 on Nov. 14. 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.