Oct. 26, 2005

Box Score

Coach Kreklow's comments via the MissouriNet

MANHATTAN, Kan. - It took every ounce of energy possible on Wednesday night for the No. 8 Missouri women's volleyball team to beat the No. 24 Wildcats of Kansas State (15-7, 6-6), but did so down two games, to win 28-30, 26-30, 30-23, 30-25, 15-11. The Tigers (16-2, 10-2 Big 12) won their first match in Manhattan since 1993, also winning their team-record fifth win over a ranked opponent this year, and the fifth all-time against a ranked opponent on the road. The Tigers clinched the match in game five up 12-11 with three-consecutive blocks, all of which shared or alone by junior Jessica Vander Kooi.

For only the second time this season the Tigers have been pushed to a five-game match, and for the second time this season, had to come back from two games down to win. The other came on October 1 in a gut-clincher at Texas Tech.

Tonight's match will be aired on a tape-delay basis on Sunday, October 30, at 1:30 p.m., on Fox Sports Midwest.

Sophomore Na Yang led the Tigers in scoring with a tied career-high of 21 kills.

Next in line was senior Shen Danru (Shanghai, China) who exploded with 17 kills on .326 hitting (17-3-43), three service aces, 19 digs, and four blocks, tallying her 57th double-double of her career, playing in her 400th game as a Tiger in game five. Danru recored a team-high three kills in game five alone.

Vander Kooi (Hinton, Iowa) grabbed her eighth double-double of the season, and her fourth over a ranked opponent, notching 14 kills and 21 digs, adding nine total blocks (three on the final three points alone) to tie a career-high in the category.

Senior Lindsey Hunter (Papillion, Neb.) also scored a double-double with 60 assists and 12 digs, adding four kills on errorless hitting. For the 20th time of her career, Hunter hit the 60-assist mark. In addition, the Tigers had four Tigers with double-digit kill totals with 74 total kills on the night.

Sophomore Tatum Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) notched a career-high of 25 digs, part of the conference season-high 102 digs by the Tiger team.

In addition, the Tigers recorded 17 blocks in the match, six coming in the winning of game three. Senior Lisa Boyd tallied seven of the blocks, while junior Nicole Wilson added five.

K-State put up a tough serving-and-defensive front in the match, throwing the Tigers off guard in several instances, especially in the first two games alone.

The Tigers started game one sluggishly, losing the first five points as result of hitting into two K-State blocks and overpasses that resulted in quick Wildcat kills. But a Tiger timeout spurred a small, but effective, 9-6 run that put the Tigers within two at 11-9. Mizzou scored three straight to take their first lead of the game at 12-11. The teams battled back-and-forth, with Mizzou eventually pulling a three-point advantage after a solo block by Jessica Vander Kooi, to lead 23-20. K-State responded by hitting a 7-2 run on six kills to take a 27-25 lead, forcing a Mizzou timeout. Danru scored twice more on two kills to tie the score at 27-27, but the Wildcats scored three-of-four to win 30-28, terminating the game on an ace. Danru led the Tigers in game one with four kills, and Mizzou actually out-hit K-State .231-.224 in a game dominated by defense. KSU scored on five blocks in the frame while Mizzou tallied four.

Game two started as a hitfest as nine of the first points of the game were scored on kills with Mizzou taking a small 5-4 advantage. K-State scored on the next five-of-seven points to take a 9-7 lead. Once again side-outs were abundant as neither team could gain a foothold. After going down four at 24-20, the Tigers tried to settle in scoring three straight kills, two from Danru, to close within one at 24-23. K-State hit on two more blocks to go up 26-23, and wouldn't look back winning on a triple-block, 30-26, to close a 3-0 run. The Tigers were blocked six time by the Wildcats in the frame, resulting in a .143 hitting percentage for the Tigers, while K-State hit .327 in the stanza.

The Tigers came out of the locker room with another powerful game three. After K-State jumped on the board with a 5-2 run and a three-point run to start the game, the Tigers scored on six straight with Abbie Booth at serve. The run included two-consecutive Tiger double-blocks. After a K-State side-out, Mizzou would score six more straight to lead 14-6. The Tigers would extend the lead after two solo blocks by Danru (her firsts of the year), to lead 23-13. Mizzou would win the stanza, recording six blocks and holding the `Cats to -.038 hitting.

In game five, Mizzou and K-State traded score-for-score to tie at 11-11. Then the Tigers' Vander Kooi put one down for a kill and followed with a Vander Kooi-Boyd double block, a Vander Kooi solo block, and a another Vander Kooi-Boyd double-block to put away the `Cats, 15-11. Mizzou hit seven kills in the frame on .273 hitting.

The Tigers come back home on Saturday to face Colorado in the Hearnes Center at 6:30 p.m. The match will be the first of an eight-match homestretch to close out the regular season. Mizzou will have five of those remaining matches at home.