Sept. 16, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - It took a team effort for the No. 17 Missouri Tigers to fend off the visiting Texas A&M Aggies in five games Saturday night in Mizzou's home conference opener. After trailing Texas A&M 2-1, the Tigers (7-4, 1-1) defeated the Aggies (7-3, 0-2), 30-24, 22-30, 20-30, 30-20, 15-11, and snapped a three-match losing streak in front of 2,096 fans. The Tigers extended their win streak over Texas A&M to three matches and also won their eighth straight at home.
Jessica Vander Kooi (Hinton, Iowa) and Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) led the Tigers with 17 kills each, and both had double-doubles with 10 and 11 digs each. Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) had 15 kills and Nicole Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) had 12 on the evening.
Mary Batis led the Aggies with 20 kills and 12 digs, and Sarah Ammerman also had a double-double with 15 kills and digs. Christi Hahn scored on 10 blocks for the Aggies, adding 14 kills.
The two teams traded scores in game one and were tied at 15-15 before the Tigers took control of the game. After taking a 21-17 lead, the Aggies rallied back to tie it the game at 22 before Missouri scored eight of the next 12 to win the game 30-24. Wilson paced the Tigers in the first game, tallying seven kills.
Texas A&M rebounded in game two, taking control from the start. The Aggies gave the Tigers fits with their blocking, out blocking the Tigers 12 to five on the evening, with five of those blocks coming in the second game. After Texas A&M went up 14-9, the Tigers cut the deficit to three, trailing 21-8 before the Aggies made another run to win the game 30-22.
The Tigers still looked dazed from the loss in the second game and got off to a sluggish start in the third game. Texas A&M never trailed in the game as Batis had six kills to lead the Aggies. The Tigers were out blocked again 3-0. Up to this point, the Aggies had a significant advantage in hit percentage, leading the Tigers .355 to .136.
Missouri picked up the intensity in game four, and thanks to six kills from Yang, the Tigers won 30-20. Missouri led 10-4 and extended the lead to eight before the Aggies pulled within four at 22-18. The Tigers then reeled off six straight and eight out of ten to pull the match even at 2-2.
With all the momentum from the game four victory, Missouri took the early 5-2 lead and never looked back. Texas A&M never cut the deficit to less than three and Nicole Wilson ended the match with a kill as the Tigers defeated the Aggies 15-9 to take the match.
Mizzou travels to Kansas State (8-3, 0-1) Wednesday in a match that will be televised on FSN Midwest in Kansas City and in Kansas. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
###