Sept. 5, 2005
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From fields of corn to the black and gold streets of Columbia, Amanda Hantouli brings her special talents to the highly prospected Mizzou Volleyball Team. This 6-2 Freshman boasts a former all-state honor back in 2003 by leading the state of Nebraska in block average with 1.6 blocks per game. Unfortunately, her Senior season in high school was cut short because of a knee injury.
Being new to our exciting college town, Amanda was enthused over the fact that the university has 26,000 undergraduate students. She has not made Columbia her new home just quite yet but says she is adapting well. Amanda will be entering in as a pre-med student.
Although she may be the new kid on the block she has already found comroderey in her teammates and trust in her coaches. According to Amanda, blocking is the best aspect in the game of volleyball. When asked if she had any special or specific goals to achieve this season she responded simply by saying, "Get to the tourney!"
Whether it's on the court or out on the beach Yi Zhang (pronounced E zhong) has played volleyball over all this Earth and now she has landed herself in Columbia to play for the Tigers. This Chinese native has played for many prestigious teams for her homeland. Some of those teams include the 2000 Chinese Youth Volleyball team, where she nabbed an MVP honor, and the Chinese National Beach Volleyball team.
This high flying outside hitter hopes to bring some extra swat to the Tigers, who already have some girls that are pretty good at racking up points. Though this is already her second semester at the University, she says its still different from home, but just like her teammates, she agrees that it's great to see so many new faces on a daily basis. Zhang has already posted an impressive 3.7 GPA and was at the top of the class in her math section that has 300 other Mizzou students.
Yi has found quick friends on the volleyball team saying that the older girls are always there for her whenever she needs something as simple as a ride home or help with homework. There was not much to say when asked if she had any specific goals this season, but when asked about the anticipation of her team, she smiled and replied, "We're going to win."