Nov. 2, 2005

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To open last year's season, the Tigers traveled to Madison to face then-No. 23 Wisconsin on September 3, and won. It was the start of an excellent season and also the start to the blossoming career of sophomore libero Tatum Ailes. Despite changing positions from setter, her position in high school, Ailes started in her first collegiate-game as a true freshman and made an immediate impact that game with 18 digs and went on to set a school record for digs in a season with 432. However, the transition was not an easy one for Ailes.

"It was nerve-racking," Ailes said. "I started the first game, but I didn't feel comfortable at my new position until the middle of the year when I started getting more confidence and my team started feeling more confident in me at my position."

Ailes was first introduced to the game when she was a little girl by her family as she remembers watching her parents and aunts playing.

"It was in my blood already," Ailes said. "It grew on me because my grandpa coached and I always watched my mom and dad and my aunts play."

In high school, Ailes starred as a setter at Bellevue West High School in Nebraska. The team made it to the state semi-finals in her freshman, sophomore, and junior years and won the state title her senior year. That year Bellevue went 46-2 and Ailes recorded 12 assists per game and 13 digs per match. It was a special season for her because she was able to play on the same team as her little sister for the first time.

"Winning my senior year state championship was awesome because I won it with my sister who was a freshman, Ailes said. "It was special because we had never played together before."

Throughout her high school career, Ailes earned many accolades and awards in both volleyball and basketball, including being named a Nebraska High School All-Star and being named a high school All-American by prepvolleyball.com. She holds the volleyball state records for assists in a season and career assists and was an all-Metro selection her senior year for basketball. Ailes said playing basketball helped her by helping her keep in shape and helping her with quickness and agility.

"I'm really quick because of basketball," Ailes said. "Playing basketball helped my vertical and things like lay-ups helped me with my agility and jumping. It just made me quicker and faster and helped to keep me in shape."

Ailes was recruited by several Big 12 schools but chose Mizzou because of the coaching staff and location.

"I looked around at lots of Big 12 schools because I'm from Nebraska," Ailes said. "I liked the fact that Mizzou isn't too close to home, but if something happened, I am only a drive away. The Kreklows have also been like my second parents."

When she came to Mizzou last fall, Ailes did not want to red-shirt because she had never sat out an extended period of time before. In high school, Ailes made an immediate impact and she wanted to do so again.

"I'm glad I didn't red-shirt," Ailes said. "I've played my entire life and it probably would have killed me to not be able to play."

The best game of her freshman season came Nov. 9 against then-No. 9 Texas. During that game, Ailes gained confidence and played well throughout.

"That's when I felt more confident at my position," Ailes said. "Everything was clicking that night and there was so much emotion and energy in the building."

In the libero position, Ailes is not just responsible for getting digs; she also tries to provide energy to the team.

"My main role is to bring energy to the court," Ailes said. "When we played Nebraska at home earlier in the year with such a huge crowd was great because having 7,000 people behind me was like having 7,001 people trying to bring energy to the court."

Ailes does not care about individual statistics as she is more concerned with the team's success. However, currently Ailes stands atop the Big 12 in digs per game at 4.17.

"I would love to be the Big 12 libero of the year," Ailes said. "I'd rather finish first or second in the Big 12 than have that honor because it just doesn't mean anything if it's not a team accomplishment."

For the rest of her career, Ailes wants to make sure the program stays strong and hopefully go to the Final Four.

"I would love to go to the Final Four," Ailes said. "It's going to be hosted in Omaha next year so I would get to go home and play in front of the home crowd."

Ailes is majoring in finance and banking and will graduate in June of 2008.