Nov. 21, 2006

Complete News & Notes in PDF Format

COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri volleyball team (16-11, 10-8) will end their regular season with matches on Wednesday on Friday. On Wednesday, Mizzou will travel to College Station, Texas, to take on Texas A&M (11-16, 4-15). On Friday, Mizzou will host Texas Tech (12-15, 5-13) on Senior Night. The Texas Tech match was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was moved to Friday to accommodate the Mizzou-Kansas football game and the men's basketball game versus Stephen F. Austin.

 

 

 

A Big Milestone

When winning their 10th Big 12 match of the season, Mizzou volleyball secured a nice achievement. In the past seven years, every year beginning with 2000, only Missouri and Nebraska have won 10-or-more conference matches in each of those seven years.

 

In addition, if Missouri earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, only the Tigers and Nebraska would have made every tournament since 2000. Texas missed out on a bid in 2003, Colorado missed in 2002, Kansas State will likely miss the 2006 tournament for the first time in 11 years, and Texas A&M will likely miss this year's tournament for the first time since 1993.

 

Last Time We Met ... Texas A&M

COLUMBIA, Mo., SEPT. 16 - 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, 1-1), 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.

 

Last Time We Met ... Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas, SEPT. 30 - The 19th-ranked Missouri volleyball team (11-4, 5-1) won their fifth-consecutive match, sweeping Texas Tech (8-7, 1-5) on Saturday evening in Lubbock, 30-26, 30-20, 30-24. Mizzou won their eighth-straight over the Red Raiders and their eighth-straight over teams from Texas. Mizzou was led in scoring by senior Jessica Vander Kooi who scored on 13 kills, adding two blocks and eight digs.

 

Freshman Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) dished a three-game match season-high of 44 assists, pacing a Tiger offence that hit .291 on the evening and over .340 in games one and two.

 

Na Yang and Nicole Wilson both added 11 kills each. Tatum Ailes led Mizzou with 11 digs. Wilson also led the team with four blocks.

 

Ailes, A Record Breaker

Junior libero Tatum Ailes has now smashed her own single-season digs record, now standing at 485 for the season. Ailes needed only two against Oklahoma to eclipse her old school record of 437 that she reset a year ago. Ailes arguably had the match of her career against the Sooners last Wednesday, recording 29 digs, adding 30 serve receptions without an error. In a hard-hitting match, Ailes was relentless, making several diving plays that would have normally ended rallies.

 

Ailes (1,354) now needs only 18 digs to tie Shen Danru (1,372) for the all-time lead in digs.

 

Wilson Also Eye-ing the Record Books

Senior MB Nicole Wilson is also looking at the records closely. With only 2 block assists, Wilson (360) will tie Christi Myers (362) for the all-time lead in the category. Wilson (419) still needs 35 total blocks to tie Myers (454) in the overall blocks category.

 

Wilson holds a slight advantage over Myers in the career blocks per game category. Wilson holds at 1.072 blocks per game while Myers ended her career with a 1.063 blocks average.

 

Vander Kooi Named to CoSIDA Academic All-District Team

University of Missouri senior volleyballer Jessica Vander Kooi was named to the College Sports Information Director of America's (CoSIDA) Academic All-District team as announced by the organization on Wednesday. Vander Kooi, a native of Hinton, Iowa, is named to the group of only six individuals representing CoSIDA's District VII for the second-consecutive year. Vander Kooi is now in the running to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American.

 

Vander Kooi excels in the classroom as well, carding a 3.84 cumulative GPA in the international business field. In addition, Vander Kooi was recently named to the Big 12's 2006 Fall "Good Works Team" for her work on the court, in the classroom, and in the community.

 

Four Named to Academic All-Big 12 Team

Abbie Booth, Jessica Vander Kooi, Lei Wang, and Na Yang were named to the Academic All-Big 12 first-team for the 2006 season. Booth and Vander Kooi make their third appearance on the list while Yang and Wang make the list for the first time.

 

Big 12 Report: November 16

Securing the Border:  Missouri traveled to Lawrence to take on rival Kansas in the second leg of the Border Showdown.  The Tigers defeated the Jayhawks three games to one, sweeping the season series.  -Jessica Vander Kooi and Na Yang led Missouri with 17 kills apiece.  Vander Kooi had 17 kills, while committing only one error on 40 attempts, good for a .400 hitting percentage.  Julianna Klein and Nicole Wilson added 15 and 14 kills, respectively.  Libero Tatum Ailes had 20 digs, making her a mere 19 digs away from the Missouri record for career digs.  The Tigers travel to College Station to face Texas A&M before coming home to host Texas Tech in the final match of the year.  Kansas hosts Nebraska, before traveling to Manhattan, Kansas to take on in state rival Kansas State in the season finale.

 

Moving closer and closer:  # 1 Nebraska moved a little closer to the Big 12 title when it clinched at least a share of the championship with a 3-0 sweep of Baylor.  Sarah Pavan led the Huskers with 23 kills and four aces.  Jordan Larson added 11 kills and Dani Mancuso 10.  This is Nebraska's 28^th conference title and ninth in 11 seasons of Big 12 play.  Nicole LeBlanc led the Bears with 11 kills.  Nebraska hit at a ridiculous .450 clip, while holding Baylor to a .186 clip.  Nebraska travels to face Kansas before hosting a huge Big 12 matchup with Texas to finish the season.  Baylor travels to Colorado then hosts Oklahoma to round out the season.

 

Sending them out in style:  Texas swept Iowa State on Senior Night as senior Jennifer Todd led the Longhorns with 14 kills, while hitting .571.  Destinee Hooker and Ashley Engle added 14 and 10 kills, respectively.  Kate Jessen was the only Cyclone in double digit kills with 12, while three others each tallied nine.  Iowa State next travels to Oklahoma before hosting Colorado to end the season.  Texas has all week to prepare for its showdown with Nebraska.

 

And the streak continues:  Oklahoma extended their nine game home winning streak by squeaking out a close 3-2 decision over Colorado.  Defense was huge for the Sooners as they outblocked the Buffs 19-9.  Oklahoma had two hitters register twenty kills, Joanna Schmitt and Eliane Santos, who put down 26 and 20 kills respectively.  Mallori Gibson led the Buffs with 24 kills, while star Amber Sutherland was held to a -.034 hitting percentage, putting down 13 kills, but also adding 15 errors. 

 

-- Michael Wojtychiw

 

National Report: November 20

Upsets?  Not so much:  The past week was a slow week for upsets...Two major upsets took place in which ranked teams lost to unranked teams, while then - # 4USC was "upset" by crosstown rival then - 6UCLA...then - 11 LSU lost to Ole Miss 3-2, while then - # 24 St, John's suffered only it's second loss of the year and first to a Big East team, when it lost to Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.

 

Movin around:  UCLA's victory over USC allowed the two to switch spots, with UCLA taking USC's spot at 4 and USC dropping to 6...then - 12 Minnesota's win over then - 10 Wisconsin let the Golden Gophers jump two spots to # 10, leapfrogging the Badgers along the way...LSU's loss to Ole Miss dropped the Tigers four spots from 11 to a tie at 15...By virtue of Notre Dame's victory over then - # 24 St. John's, the Red Storm dropped out of their poll and Duke reentered polls at # 25, 

 

It's that time of year...: As some teams wrap up their regular seasons, some conferences are holding or have held their conference tournaments these past two weeks.  The America East Conference held their conference tournament this past weekend with top seeded Albany winning the championship in five games over third seeded UMBC...The Atlantic 10 was won by St. Louis, the third seed, as they defeated the Dayton Flyers 3-1.  The win gave the Billikens their first ever A-10 Championship...The Duke Blue Devils won the ACC with a 19-1 conference record.  The ACC does not have a conference tournament...Belmont, the second seed, defeated the four seed, Jacksonville, who had defeated top seeded East Tennessee State, to win the Atlantic Sun Tournament...The Cardinals of Louisville ruined Notre Dame's hopes of earning an automatic bid to the MCAA Tournament when it came back from two games down to defeat the Irish in five games.  The fourth-seeded Irish had upset top seeded St. John's in the semifinals, while the Cardinals had to play their second five game match in two days...Sacramento State and Eastern Washington faced off for the eighth straight time when they played for the Big Sky Championship.  And like the past four years, the Hornets of Sacramento State defeated the Eagles, to claim their fifth championship in a row...The Winthrop Eagles continued their dominance over the Big South Conference, as they won the conference tournament after finishing the regular season 14-0...Cal Poly won the Big West Conference with a 13-1 record.  The championship was the first for the Mustangs in 22 years...The Hofstra Pride earned its first Colonial Athletic Conference championship when it defeated the defending champion and sixth-seeded VCU Rams 3-0...The fifth seeded UAB Blazers defeated the Memphis Tigers 3-2, coming back from a 2-0 deficit.  UAB earlier defeated top seeded Tulsa...UM-Milwaukee, the Horizon League's regular season champion also won the conference tournament when it defeated second seeded Illinois-Chicago 3-0...Cornell won its third consecutive Ivy League title and concluded their regular season on a nine match winning streak as it swept Princeton 3-0...The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference had an upset in their tournament as second seeded Siena defeated Fairfield in a five game thriller.  Apparently Disney World wasn't too kind to the Stags, as the Saints handed Fairfield their first loss to a conference opponent all year...

 

It's that time of year part 2:  Ohio University continued its stronghold against Mid-American Conference opponents as it won its 75^th consecutive match over conference opponents, as they won their conference's tournament with a 3-0 sweep over Bowling Green.  It is the Bobcats' fourth consecutive MAC Championship...Oral Roberts finished off an impressive Mid-Continent Conference season as they won the conference tournament with a 3-2 victory over Valporaiso...Florida A&M continued it's dominance over the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with it's sixth consecutive conference tournament championship with a 3-0 victory over Morgan State.  It is also the Rattler's seventh tournament championship in the past eight years...Long Island finished off an unbeaten conference season by sweeping Robert Morris to win the Northeast Conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament...Jacksonville went 18-0, including the conference tournament, when it beat Southeast Missouri in three games to win the Ohio Valley's auto bid to the NCAA tournament...American University won its sixth consecutive Patriot League Championship with a sweep over third seeded Bucknell.  The Eagles have won the Patriot League championship, both regular season and tournament, every year since they joined the conference in 2001.  They have also only lost one match during that time, going 83-1...Florida won its 16^th consecutive SEC regular season title, going 19-1 in the conference's first double-round robin SEC schedule...The College of Charleston Cougars won their third consecutive Southern Conference Championship with a 3-1 victory over seventh seeded UNC-Greensboro...Top-seeded Stephen F. Austin swept Texas-Arlington for its first Southland Volleyball Tournament Championship since 1999...Middle Tennessee State took the 2006 Sun Belt Conference Championship with a 3-0 sweep over Florida International...Prairie View A&M took the SWAC volleyball title with a tough 3-2 victory over the Mississippi Valley State Devilettes...The San Diego Toreros won the West Coast Conference with a 13-1 record.

 

We're going dancing!:  In case you lost track from above, the teams already in this year's NCAA tournament are: St. Louis, Albany, Louisville, Sacramento State, Duke, Belmont, Winthrop, Cal Poly, Hofstra, UAB, UW-Milwaukee, Cornell, Siena, Ohio, Oral Roberts, Florida A&M, Long Island, Jacksonville State, American, Florida, College of Charleston, Stephen F. Austin, Middle Tennessee State, Prairie View A&M, and San Diego.

 

And the fight continues:  Three of the largest conferences, the three conferences with the highest RPI's, the Big 12, Big 10, and Pac-10 have their league races come down to the last weekend.  Nebraska, Texas, and Oklahoma are still fighting for the Big 12 title, although the Huskers have secured at least a tie.  Penn State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are all within one or two games of one another, as they go into their last two Big 10 matches.  The Pac 10 race is even tighter as four teams are within one game of each other.  The title will most likely be divided when Washington plays at Stanford on Friday night.

 

Other tournaments:  Several other schools will be hosting tournaments this weekend, such as Louisville, which hosts Notre Dame, Ohio, and Marshall in the Cardinal Challenge.  The Conference Challenge, a Big East-SEC crossover also takes place in Florida this weekend, as Lsu, Florida, St. Johns, and Marquette all take part.

 

The 2006 Journal ...

September 1

Jules' Jumpin' Jives ...

True freshman Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) made quite an impression with her killer jump serves at the Long Beach State Invitational. In the final match of the weekend, against Villanova, Klein got her first start of her career, and, boy, was it a good one. Against the Wildcats, Klein scored on seven service aces, the most a Tiger has accumulated in a match since 2003. In addition, Klein added six kills and two blocks to score 15 total points in Mizzou's three-game match. Only six other times in school history has a person scored seven or more aces in a match, and only twice in three-game matches.

 

September 5

A Week in the Life of Jessica Vander Kooi ... Big 12 Player of the Week ...

Senior Jessica Vander Kooi performed phenomenally in the Tigers' four-match week and as a result was named the Big 12 Player of the Week, earning the honor for the first time in her career.

 

In defeating UALR, Idaho, Valparaiso, and No. 21 Notre Dame, Vander Kooi scored an average of 6.00 points per game (90 total) on 5.00 kills per game (75 total), 0.87 aces per game (13 total), and 1.33 blocks per game (20 total), adding 4.40 digs per game (66 total) in what was one of the best all-around individual week-long performances in Mizzou history.

 

Vander Kooi, a 2005 AVCA honorable mention All-American, was named MVP of the Shamrock Invitational, held in South Bend, Ind., with her outstanding play in helping the Tigers to a tournament championship.

 

In what was the eventual championship match with the No. 21 Irish, Vander Kooi captured the third 20-20 of her career with 30 kills and 25 digs, both career bests in their respective categories. Her 30 kills, the third-highest single-match kill total for a Tiger all-time and the most by a Tiger since 1996, came on a career-high 71 attempts and equaled a .254 hitting percentage. In addition, Vander Kooi scored on eight blocks against the Irish and added a service ace to produce 34.5 points in the match, the second-highest scoring total for a Tiger in school history (35, Yvette Buhlig, October 1, 1992). Statistically, there has been only one other performance in Mizzou history, Yvette Buhlig's 34 kill, 30 dig match against Washington in 1989, that produced more kills and digs than what Vander Kooi posted against the Irish.

 

Earlier in the week, Vander Kooi nearly became the first Tiger to earn a 20-20 in only three games, scoring 20 kills and adding 19 digs to an awe-inspiring performance against UALR.

 

September 17

Kreklows to be inducted in Columbia College Athletic Hall of Fame ...

Columbia College announced that Tiger coaches Susan and Wayne Kreklow will be inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame on October 6.

 

Susan and Wayne Kreklow began their coaching careers at Columbia College at different times, but they shared the enjoyment of leading the college's Cougar Volleyball team to its first national championship in 1998, with a repeat performance in 1999. Susan Kreklow joined Columbia College in 1990 as volleyball coach. During the next four seasons, she led the Cougars to four straight conference championships and an overall record of 189-57 (.768). Wayne Kreklow joined her in 1994 as co-head coach of the women's volleyball team and head coach of the newly created men's volleyball team. The following six seasons "Team Kreklow" saw unmatched success at Columbia College with six more conference championships, back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1998 and 1999, two NAIA National Championships and an overall record of 267-29 (.902). They were six-time Conference Coaches of the Year, five-time Region Coaches of the Year and two-time NAIA Coaches of the Year. The Kreklows coached nine NAIA All-Americans, two NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes, five NAIA Players of the Week and one NAIA Player of the Year.

 

September 25

Vander Kooi Named National and Big 12 Player of the Week ...

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) named Missouri senior OH Jessica Vander Kooi as its SportsImports/AVCA National Player of the Week it announced Monday evening. After winning the Big 12 Player of the Week honor earlier in the day for the second time this month, Vander Kooi, a native of Hinton, Iowa, becomes just the third Tiger to win the national weekly award.

 

Vander Kooi led then-No. 22 Missouri to a 2-0 record last week, including the sweep of then-No. 5 Texas -- the Tigers' first victory over a top-five ranked opponent.

At Kansas State on Wednesday, Vander Kooi scored 27 kills on 55 attempts (.327) and added 19 digs to the MU effort.  The Hinton, Iowa native tallied the most kills for a Tiger in a four-game match since 2002, and the fifth 20-kill match this season. 

Vander Kooi scored 19 points; recording 13 kills, five blocks and three service aces against Texas on Saturday.  After rolling her ankle in game one, Vander Kooi committed only one hitting error in 32 attacks to record a .375 hitting percentage. In addition, Vander Kooi fielded 17 serve receptions without an error.

On the week, Vander Kooi averaged 6.86 points, 5.71 kills while compiling a .345 hitting percentage.  She also posted 3.86 digs and 1.00 blocks in seven games.

 

In Big 12 matches, Vander Kooi currently ranks second in the conference in points per game (5.74), third in kills per game (4.65), and fifth in aces per game (0.47).

 

The last Tiger to earn the AVCA National Player of the Week award was Nicole Wilson last year. Ironically, Vander Kooi's honor came on the same week in the year as Wilson's occurred last season.

 

Reruns ...

Like Nick-at-Nite we give you the stuff you may have already seen, five, six, seven times, again and again ... ah, remember these good notes? ...

 

Tigers Picked Third in Big 12 Preseason Poll ...

The coaches of the Big 12 picked Mizzou third in the preseason poll behind Nebraska and Texas. The Tigers finished the 2005 season third, behind Nebraska (19-1) and Texas (17-3) in the Big 12 with a 16-4 record (a new school record in conference wins).  Nebraska was dealt with bad news to start the '06 campaign when their 2005 AVCA National Player of the Year Christina Houghtelling had to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery in the off season. Texas, ranked No. 8 in the national-preseason poll, return everyone from their '05 squad, adding Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Ashley Engle and NCAA high-jump Champion Destinee Hooker.

 

Mizzou was picked 13th in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Top 25, earning the program's highest preseason ranking all-time. Last season, the Tigers were picked 21st and finished eighth in the final poll.

 

Suddenly Seniors ...

All of the sudden, Tigers Jessica Vander Kooi, Nicole Wilson, and Abbie Booth are seniors. The trio has already accumulated quite a resume together and would like to add a successful 2006 run to it. Wilson earned AVCA honorable mention All-America honors a year ago for her amazing play at MB. In 2005, Wilson averaged 3.16 kpg on a .415 hitting percentage, setting a new Big 12 record in the category, adding 1.26 bpg. Wilson was named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team and was named AVCA National Player of the Week during the 2005 season.

 

Vander Kooi has been an amazing all-around player for the Tigers, as she earned honorable mention All-America honors as well a year ago. Statistically, Vander Kooi was in the Big 12's top 15 in four categories including kills per game (3.36, 13th), aces per game (0.31, t8th), digs per game (2.62, 14th), and points per game (4.16, 10th). Vander Kooi has now started in each of the Tigers' 96 matches in her four years on campus. Vander Kooi's real strong suit comes from her game-changing play based on the situation. Against Kansas State a year ago on the road, she helped the Tigers comeback from two games down, capping the fifth game with three-consecutive blocks. At Nebraska, she scored 23 kills adding 22 digs for the squad's only 20-20 of the season. Against Hawaii in the NCAA Tournament semifinal, she was more of a defensive threat, grabbing 20 digs adding six blocks.

 

The New Crop ...

To replace three Tigers that had a large impact on the team, Mizzou will have five freshman in 2006 season, three of which redshirted in 2005. Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) has positioned herself to take over as Missouri's new setter, replacing first-team All-American Lindsey Hunter (who now is on the USA National Team). Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) has been impressive in spring and early fall workouts and will likely see some playing time in the replacement of Lisa Boyd. Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) has been equally impressive and will likely take on an all-around role on the Tiger side. True freshman Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) has shown her strength this fall, having delivered some shattering cross-court shots from the left side and raising some eyebrows with her jump serves. Brittney Herzog (Boonville, Mo.) has also shown a lot to the Tiger coaching staff at the MB position.

 

Tatum Libre-o ...

As a sophomore she won Big 12 Libero of the Year honors. This year, junior Tatum Ailes will be looking for more as an encore. Leading the conference a year ago with 4.12 digs per game, Ailes has found a knack to be at the right place at the right time. With amazing dives and accurate passes Ailes is not only a physical force for the Tigers, but also an emotional and vocal leader on the floor. In addition, her play in last year's NCAA Tournament played a vital role in the Tigers' run to the Elite Eight as she wiped the floor averaging 5.00 dpg in the four matches. In the regional rounds alone, she scooped 26 against Hawaii and 22 against Tennessee.

 

Remarking on 2005 ...

We can't go without mentioning the greatest season in Tiger volleyball history (so far). In 2005, Mizzou reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history, then beating Hawaii to reach its first-ever NCAA Regional Final. Making their sixth-consecutive NCAA Tournament, the Tigers went 7-4 against teams in the top 25, and took down four top-10 teams adding sweeps against then-No. 9 Tennessee and then-No. 9 Wisconsin. The Tigers had the winningest record in school history with a 25-5 mark. Mizzou hosted first-and-second rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year, having the largest attended early rounds of the 16 sites. In addition, Mizzou ranked sixth in national attendance, attracting an average of over 2,600 fans a match.

 

###