Nov. 13, 2005
LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 12 Missouri women's volleyball team nearly pulled off one of the largest upsets in the 2005 season, falling to No. 1 Nebraska in five games after winning the first two, 30-28, 30-27, 21-30, 24-30, 3-15. The Tigers (19-4, 13-4 Big 12) went up in the match 2-0, marking the first time the Tigers were ever faced with possibly sweeping the Huskers. The only unbeaten team left in the country, the No. 1 Huskers (25-0, 16-0) won their 49th-consectuive regular season match and their 31st-straight at home in front of 4,158 fans in Lincoln.
Junior Jessica Vander Kooi joined the 20-20 club for only the second time in her career, scoring a tied-career high 23 kills (UC-Irvine, NCAA First Round, 2003) adding a season-high 22 digs.
Senior Lindsey Hunter spread 58 assists and added 12 digs to record her ninth double-double of the season. Four Tigers were in double-digits in kills with Nicole Wilson adding 12, Na Yang grabbing 11, and Lisa Boyd scoring on 10 kills. In addition, Wilson added a team-high five blocks.
Shen Danru scored on nine kills, adding 18 digs. Tatum Ailes notched 15 digs.
It was most definitely a tale of two halves. Mizzou shocked Nebraska and their crowd in the first two games, winning with great passing turning to great hitting while taking advantage of several, rare Husker mistakes. The Tigers opening two game win marked the first time all-time in the series that Nebraska had went down two games to Mizzou to start a match.
In ironic fashion, Nebraska took hold of the remainder of the match, coming back to win the next three games, just as Mizzou had done to them in Lincoln two years ago.
The Tigers win game one was Nebraska's first game loss in 31-consecutive home games and 28-games overall.
In game one, the Huskers jumped on the board with two-consecutive kills, but the Tigers responded. Off the serve of Lindsey Hunter, the Tigers scored on six-straight points to go up 6-2. After much back-and-forth scoring, the Tigers led 15-12 at the media timeout. Mizzou's Vander Kooi and Wilson teamed up with consecutive-blocking points to lead by five at 17-12, all part of a 5-1 MU run that gave the Tigers a 19-13 advantage before a Nebraska timeout. Nebraska answered with four-straight to cut the lead again to three at 20-17. Mizzou kept their lead strong and led 28-24, forcing another NU timeout. Nebraska scored on four-of-five to come within one at 29-28, forcing a Mizzou timeout. Out of the timeout, Hunter stunned the Huskers with a setter dump, that went down for the kill and the 30-28 game win.
In the first frame, Mizzou hit a solid .333 in the frame, connecting on 19 kills, committing only four hitting errors. Vander Kooi recorded eight of the kills, also scoring on the Tigers only block of the frame. Conversely, the Tigers held the national-blocking leader, Nebraska (4.26 bpg), to only one block in the stanza.
The second verse started with good passing by the Tigers and bad hitting by the Huskers, leading to a 10-7 Tiger advantage after a four-point Tiger run to force a Nebraska timeout. Mizzou continued the order, scoring three on the next four rallies to string a 7-1 run, going up five at 13-8. In the run, Nebraska committed hitting errors on four of the Tigers' seven points. Nebraska managed a 4-1 run to cut the lead to two, but Mizzou responded with a Wilson kill and a Danru-Wilson double-stuff block to return the to four at 16-12 and force another Nebraska timeout.
At the 19-17 mark, with Mizzou having the lead, the Tigers went on another four-point tear, to spread the lead to six at 23-17. After a two-point swing by Nebraska, the Tigers went up seven to 26-19 after a Hunter dump kill, a double-block by Yang and Wilson, and a Hunter service ace. Nebraska scored on four straight, ending with a crowd-pleasing double-block by Sarah Paven and Melissa Elmer, cutting the Tiger lead to three at 26-23. With the Tigers looking at game point at 29-25, the Huskers used a huge kill and service ace by Paven to come within two at 29-27. After Mizzou's final timeout of the frame, Danru brought the Tiger win home, scoring on her first kill in the frame that landed three feet off the baseline.
Vander Kooi dominated the first two frames, adding seven more kills to lead into the break with a double-double of 15 kills and 11 digs. Lisa Boyd scored four kills in the stanza, Wilson and Yang added three apiece. Mizzou hit .212 in the measure, holding Nebraska to a slim .128 hitting percentage, as they committed six-unforced hitting errors.
The third frame opened with a 4-0 Tiger run, containing three kills, all by different Tigers, and a double-block by Hunter and Wilson. The Huskers took the game by the jugular at after that point, grabbing a 9-3 run on stellar hitting and great serving, to force a Mizzou timeout. After a Vander Kooi kill and ace, Mizzou tied the score at 9-9. Nebraska scored 10 to Mizzou's four, to go up 19-13. Prior to that point, the Nebraska's largest lead over the Tigers at any point in the match was two, now it was six.
At that 19-13 point, Nebraska was hitting .364, having committed no unforced hitting errors. The Tigers stormed back with three points on a run after two NU errors and a kill by Boyd to cut the NU lead to three (reducing the Husker hitting to .240 in just three points). After another kill by Boyd to bring the score to 21-18, Nebraska scored on an 8-2 run after two four-point mini-runs to take over the game for good. In the frame Nebraska scored on five blocks, allowing Mizzou only a .136 hitting tally while scoring .351 themselves.
In game four, Mizzou once again led, 6-1, but Nebraska had a quick answer, chewing at the lead and eventually went up 21-16. The Huskers held the lead steady to win the frame 30-24. In the fourth game Mizzou had only 13 kills on .190 hitting.
In the fifth game, the Tigers started with a Wilson kill, but Nebraska started to take things from there. Nebraska would score on four straight to make the score 4-1 after a double-block. Nebraska showed their we-are No. 1-for-a-reason stand in the next several rallies. Scoring on a kill, two-double blocks and ace, to cause the NU Coliseum to crazy, showing an 8-2 lead. And the Tigers couldn't stop the bleeding, scoring only once more before Nebraska could close the story on the match, winning in very commanding fashion.
The fifth game featured four team blocks by Nebraska. The Huskers scored on seven kills on only 11 tries (.545), holding Mizzou to a season-low -.286 frame hitting percentage (2-6-14).
Nebraska's Melissa Elmer, while quietly only scoring on three blocks and three kills in the first two games, completed the match with 11 total blocks and 12 kills. Sarah Paven led the Huskers with 22 kills. Jennifer Saleaumua recorded 23 digs.
The Tigers will have the first part of the week without a match and will next play Sunday, Nov. 20, when the Tigers will host No. 11 Texas at 12:30 p.m., in the Hearnes Center. The match will be part of the "Tiger Ton Food Drive", in which patrons can receive free admission with two canned-good items: benefits to help the Central Missouri Food Bank. In addition, the first 500 fans will receive free donuts, fruit, coffee, and more as part of "Breakfast with the Tigers". Parking for the match will only be on the east side of the Hearnes due to Mizzou's men's basketball game versus Northwestern State which begins at 2 p.m.