Oct. 7, 2006
AMES, Iowa - The No. 17 nationally-ranked Missouri volleyball team (13-4, 7-1) won its seventh straight overall and conference match Saturday afternoon, downing host Iowa State (11-6, 3-4) in a 30-26, 34-32, 30-22 sweep. The Tigers 19th-straight victory over the Cyclones did not come easy in game two as ISU nearly came back from seven down. Freshman Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) led all-scorers with 15 kills on .345 hitting in a homecoming of sorts.
Mizzou outblocked Iowa State 15.5 to 11, with Vander Kooi and Wilson scoring on seven of the blocking-scores. Vander Kooi also added 11 digs and eight kills.
The Tigers' Nicole Wilson and Na Yang joined Klein with double-digit kill totals, scoring 14 and 12, respectively. Wilson hit .406 on the evening, committing only one hitting error on 32 attempts. In addition, Wilson scored on three service aces which tied a season-high and gave Wilson her sixth match this season with multiple aces.
Mizzou outhit Iowa State .204 to .156, and cleaned up the offense in an efficient game three when the team hit .316.
Iowa State was led by Katie Jessen who scored on 13 kills, adding nine digs.
Iowa State led by as much as three in game one at the 17-14 mark, after playing solid offensively to start the opening frame. The Tigers then went on a 6-1 run which included three kills by Yang to gain a two-point advantage at 20-18 and force a Cyclones timeout. Mizzou would score on three of the next four to spread the lead to five to force another ISU timeout at 24-19. Iowa State scored four straight to pull within one at 24-23, but a 6-3 Tiger run which included an ace a three-point serving run by Nicole Wilson gave Mizzou the 30-26 game victory. Yang and Klein had five kills apiece for the Tigers in the frame. On the final card, Mizzou outhit the `Clones .204 to .175 in the game. Up to the first half of the stanza, Iowa State was hitting near .333.
Game two was a thriller. The Tigers led by as much as seven, up 19-12, looking to have the stanza under control before ISU mounted a comeback and nearly took the game. With the score 24-18, the Cyclones scored four straight to cut the score to two. A solo block by Vander Kooi seemed to put the Tigers out of reach at 26-22, but a serving run by the Cyclones' Nicole Lorenzen proved otherwise. ISU would score on the next eight rallies on the back-end of their 10-2 run to take a two-point lead at 28-26, forcing Mizzou to fight back. Another Ailes serving run with the "Big-Three" of Vander Kooi, Wilson, and Yang in the front row help Mizzou to a one-point lead at 29-28. Both teams would continue to sideout to ISU with the serve at 31-31. A double block by the Cyclones gave ISU a game point at 32-31, but a clutch-kill by Vander Kooi tied the score at 32. A solo block by Lei Wang gave Mizzou the 33-32 advantage before a Nicole Wilson serve (that appeared to be going long) was shanked by Iowa State's Katie Churm to give Mizzou the game two win. The second verse seemed to be heavily defensive with several blocks by Mizzou and several digs by Iowa State that forced Mizzou into unforced errors. Mizzou's Nicole Wilson scored six kills in the frame.
In game three, it appeared Mizzou was in control from the starting gun. The Tigers put on a solid, all-around performance in the frame and cruised to a 30-22 game three victory. Mizzou was up only three at 19-16 before going on a 11-4 run that put the score at 29-19. Iowa State scored on the next three rallies before committing a service error to give the match to the Tigers.
Mizzou will next face top-ranked Nebraska on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Hearnes Center. Mizzou will try to top its 7,298 attendance record with "Can the Huskers" Night II, as all fans receive free admission with two canned goods that go to benefit the Central Missouri Food Bank. In addition, the match will be aired live on the Mizzou Sports Network with KZOU airing the match live in Columbia. MetroSports airing the match live in Kansas City. And FSN Midwest charring the match in its areas with the exception of the state of Indiana.