Nov. 1, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - It's taking longer for the No. 21 Missouri Tigers to regroup from the losses to No. 1 Nebraska and Baylor than many expected. The Tigers (14-9, 8-6) lost to Iowa State (16-7, 8-5) 3-1 and continued their slide, losing their fifth match in six matches and third straight. The Tigers fell to fifth place in the Big 12 after losing 27-30, 22-30, 30-24, 22-30 to the Cyclones. Iowa State avenged their straight-set loss to Mizzou from October 7th, and broke their 19-match losing slide to the Tigers.
Head Coach Wayne Kreklow said that Mizzou is not at the top of their game and things need to change to stop the three match losing skid.
"I don't think we're playing well right now," Kreklow said. "If [the team] is not feeling bad right now, then we have serious problems. When you play this game, you have to play fearlessly, and we were afraid to lose."
Kreklow said the blocking by Iowa State gave the Tigers fits on the night.
"I think [Iowa State] blocked extremely well, and our offense was non-existent, and that makes it easy to block," Kreklow said. "I thought they were much quicker. It's a lot easier to play defense when you block well."
Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) had a career high with 13 kills and also added six blocks. Jessica Vander Kooi (Hinton, Iowa) led Mizzou with 16 kills and 17 digs, her 64th career double-double and 15th of the season. Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) also recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs while also adding six blocks. Nicole Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) had 15 kills on the night and Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) had nine. Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) had 57 assists.
"It would have been better if we could have ended it with a win, but I feel pretty good," Hantouli said on her new career-high in kills. "That's what I try to do every game, every practice, get better, more consistent. To do what I can to help our team."
Hantouli said the Tigers still have a lot of work to do in practice to come out with victories in tough games.
"We need to focus on the little things and be able to capitalize on opportunities we have," she said. "It's not about spectaculars, but rather the little things that count."
Katie Jessen led Iowa State with a double-double, recording 18 kills and 14 digs. Lauren Cummings also had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 blocks. Nicole Lorenzen narrowly missed a double-double with nine kills and 18 digs. Erin Boeve had 11 kills and eight blocks.
Missouri was outblocked in the match 21.5-14 and couldn't get anything done offensively, hitting .164 on the match compared to .261 by Iowa State. Mizzou had 39 attacking errors and eight errors on the night while the Cyclones only committed 19 attacking errors and four serving errors.
In game one, the Tigers got off to a sluggish start, trailing 7-4 and then 11-6. Miscommunication and errors hurt the Tigers as they trailed throughout the game. Missouri began to mount a comeback, scoring seven out of ten points to cut the deficit to 18-16. Mizzou would get within one but couldn't tie the game up and fell to Iowa State 30-27. The Tigers were led by Vander Kooi's five kills and two aces. Wilson and Yang had three kills each and Hantouli added four blocks.
Missouri struggled offensively, hitting a dismal .089 while allowing Iowa State to hit .243. The Tigers couldn't overcome their 11 errors in the game to pull off the comeback victory.
Mizzou again started off slow and were not able to play consistently, falling behind early in game two. Trailing 9-4, Iowa State continued to control the game, extending their lead to seven. Unable to establish a rhythm, the Tigers were on the verge of being blown out, trailing 20-10. Missouri cut the lead to seven but the Cyclones once again extended their lead to 10 at 27-17. The Cyclones put the Tigers away 30-22 to take a 2-0 lead. Vander Kooi again led the Tigers with four kills.
The Tigers continued to struggle offensively and their hitting percentage continued to decline. Mizzou hit only .058 from the field while Iowa State hit .267. The Tigers were careless with errors, committing 14 in the game, totaling 25 in just two games compared to ISU's nine errors after two games. The Tigers were overmatched at the net as well, being outblocked by the Cyclones 7-1 in the game.
The Tigers seemed to turn things around after the break in game three, taking a 5-1 lead and extending it to 8-3, forcing a timeout from Iowa State. Hantouli provided a huge spark for Mizzou with five kills in the teams first 11 points. Things finally began to click for Missouri as they took a 16-8 lead. The Tigers held on to the eight-point lead, leading 23-15 and never trailed the entire match, winning game three 30-24 to prevent the sweep. Wilson and Hantouli led Mizzou with six kills each. Wilson also added three blocks. Yang and Klein had four kills and Vander Kooi had three kills in game three.
Missouri improved their hitting percentage tremendously, hitting .347 and holding Iowa State to .182. The Tigers took better care of the ball, committing six turnovers, and narrowed the Cyclone's block advantage, outblocking ISU 6-4.
Hoping to come back after dropping the first two games, Missouri started off slow and trailed early on in game four. Iowa State took a 12-6 lead and extended it to 19-11. The Tigers scored three in a row to cut the Cyclone lead to five, but ISU extended the lead back to eight at 24-16. Mizzou would get within five but they couldn't get any closer and Iowa State would take the game and match, 30-22.
The Tigers host Colorado on Saturday, November 4 at 6:30 p.m.