Sept. 7, 2006
AUSTIN, Texas - The No. 15 Missouri volleyball team (6-2) had trouble with a hard-hitting and defensively-sound No. 2 Penn State (7-0) team on Thursday afternoon, losing in three games, 19-30, 21-30, 21-30 at the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas. The Nittany Lions snapped Mizzou's five-match overall winning streak and the Tigers' 15-match winning streak in the month of September. Freshman Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) led the Tigers off the bench with 10 kills and a .304 hitting percentage, adding a solo block and ace.
Freshman Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) was in on three of Mizzou's six blocks to lead the team in that category. Junior Tatum Ailes grabbed 12 digs.
Penn State was led by Nicole Fawcett with 17 kills on .394 hitting.
Penn State jumped out to a 6-2 lead at the beginning of game one running off five-consecutive points before a Tiger timeout. The Nittany Lions added a 4-1 run to go up seven at 10-3. Mizzou fought back with a 5-2 run to cut the lead to four thanks to a Klein serving run that included an ace. The score remained at the same pace with PSU having a 14-10 lead before another five-point PSU streak to put the Tigers eight behind again at 18-10. Penn State retained control to win the frame 30-19. Yang led Mizzou with three kills while Penn State's Fawcett scored on nine kills. Penn State played a flawless game and outhit the Tigers .425 to .128.
Mizzou's Hantouli and Vander Kooi scored on a double block in the first rally of the game, but a three-point PSU strech composed of two aces by PSU's Megan Hodge gave the Big Ten team a 3-1 lead. The Tigers pulled within one, using a 6-2 mini-run on another Hantouli-Vander Kooi double block and two Hantouli kills to make the score 12-11 in favor of PSU. Then the Nittany Lions went on a 6-2 run themselves to grab a 19-14 lead. Mizzou scored on only five of the next 15 points to trail 29-19 before a kill by Penn State made the game final at 30-21.
Although Penn State scored the first three points of game three, Mizzou stormed back to tie at 10-10. Mizzou would take the lead after a Lei Wang ace at 12-11, but PSU went on a 7-1 run that included back-to-back aces by Penn State's Roberta Holehouse to retake the lead and go five up at 18-13. Klein scored three kills in five rallies, but the Nittany Lions would go up 25-16 after five-straight scores. Mizzou grabbed some momentum back with four-consecutive scores. But Mizzou's third rotation error of the frame put the dagger to the Tigers as Penn State would score five of the next six to take the game and match with a 30-21 game three win.
The Tigers will conclude the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational with a match Friday at 3 p.m. (CT) versus No. 4 Santa Clara. Live stats will be provided via TexasSports.com.
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