April 20, 2006

BeiHang University comes to town

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Last weekend completed the Missouri volleyball team's spring travels, ending with a successful run at the University of Arkansas. The Tigers swept Tulsa and an Arkansas alumni team to remain undefeated in spring workouts. One match remains in the spring schedule as the Tigers host BeiHang University of China next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

"We had a different experience in Arkansas than that at San Diego," said Head Coach Wayne Kreklow. "Again, it was a long, good day, but in this case at Arkansas we were overall a much better team, and I can tell we improved a lot from the previous week. I was very pleased how we played at Arkansas. Offensively, our rhythm was much better and we played at a tempo that we are used to here at Missouri.

"Lei (Wang) [Tiger redshirt freshman setter] made big strides and got us more into our normal tempo and connected well with our outside hitters in particular. With our middles, she was able to improve her timing quite a bit, and that's really the last step to becoming a solid setter.

"You can tell (senior) Nicole Wilson had a good weekend. She went from hitting .285 at San Diego to .322 on the weekend at Arkansas. Her and Lei were on the same tempo all day. Jess Vander Kooi had another excellent day all-around, serving, passing, and obviously hitting.

"Overall, again, I was pleased by how our team performed. They are really starting to become good at working together, and finding the way we want them to play volleyball at the University of Missouri."

Another highlight of the weekend was senior Abbie Booth's serving. In one game, the Tigers ran to a 14-0 lead off her serve.

Again, one match remains in the spring schedule as the Tigers will host BeiHang University from Beijing, China, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., at the Hearnes Center. Admission is free, plus free pizza will be served following the match during autograph sessions.

A free youth clinic is also part of the match next Wednesday, beginning at 4:30 p.m.