Oct. 10, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers (11-6, 4-4 Big 12) swept the Texas A&M Aggies (13-6, 3-6 Big 12) 30-23, 30-23, 30-28 on Wednesday night to earn their fourth straight victory and second straight sweep. An all-around impressive hitting attack from Missouri was the story of the night, as the Tigers hit .325, .395, and .309 in the three games. The win evened out Missouri's conference record and placed them within a match of fourth-place in the conference.
"We haven't talked at all about our record. It's a big step, and it's a great thing to get back into the middle (of the conference) again," Missouri Head Coach Wayne Kreklow said. "I know what's going to happen in the conference; you're going to see a multitude of teams go on three-game winning streaks, or three-game losing streaks. You never know what is going to happen. All we can do is take a look at what is right in front of us and just keep plugging away."
Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) and Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) had fantastic nights for the Tigers, with Yang leading the way with 22 kills and nine digs, the most kills by a Tiger in a three-game match since 2000. Wilson finished the night with 17 kills, her career-high in a three-game match. Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) finished with a double-double, tallying 32 assists and 14 digs.
"We've improved in three areas that have helped us a ton. I feel like we're serving better," Coach Kreklow said. "I think our blocking has picked up a lot, and that helps to control the other teams. And finally, I think the hitting percentage is a big key. A lot of that is just having three hitters all the time. A lot of that is the little things people are improving on."
The Tigers rode their impressive hitting percentage to a near-flawless 30-23 victory in game one. Committing just two errors in the game, the Tigers were able to jump out to an early lead and never looked back, capitalizing on 12 Aggie errors to jump out to an early 1-0 lead in the match. Na Yang led the way for Missouri with seven kills in the contest. Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) recorded four kills, while Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) added three kills of her own. The Tigers only trailed once in the game, when the Aggies recorded the opening point to lead 1-0. After being down 2-1 early, the Tigers jumped all over the Aggies with 9-3 run to jump out to a 10-5. Texas A&M tried to scratch and claw their way back, cutting the lead to 20-19, but Missouri came out strong following a time out, rallying off 10 of the next 14 to finish off game one. Three different Tigers, Lei Wang, Amanda Hantouli, and Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China), combined for six blocks in the game to lead the squad defensively.
Game two saw more of the same from the Tigers, as they impressively improved on their hitting percentage from game one, hitting .395 in the second contest. In a game that featured four ties and two lead changes, most of them early, the Tigers were able to ride a big 9-1 run in the middle of the game to widen their lead, and held on to win by the score of 30-23. The two squads fought back and forth early on, but that big mid-game run that put the Tigers up 21-11 essentially defeated any chance the Aggies had of rallying back. After that point, the closest Texas A&M was able to pull within the Tigers was five points at 28-23 before Missouri scored a kill and Texas A&M committed an error to finish off the game. Megan Wilson led the way for the Tigers with a total of 10 kills in the game. Defensively, the Tigers were very impressive, totaling 29 kills in the game, up from just 15 in game one. Tatum Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) dug out 12, while Lei Wang added seven. Na Yang, not known for her defensive prowess, recorded five digs in the game along with her four kills.
The Tigers were able to hold off a ferocious rally in game three by the Aggies to complete the sweep and win the match. The game appeared to look like a repeat of the previous two games early on, with Missouri jumping all over Texas A&M, going ahead 13-5. The lead for the Tigers grew to 19-9 before the Aggies took their second time out of the game, and began to mount their rally. Texas A&M took six of the next seven points before a Missouri time out, and then seven of the next nine after the time out to tie the game up 22-22. Missouri looked like it had the game in hand, scoring six of the next nine to take go up 28-25, but Texas A&M didn't back down, tying up the game at 28-28 before the Tigers were able to finish the Aggies off to win 30-28. Na Yang once again led the way for Missouri, throwing down 11 of her 22 kills in this game alone.
"A&M is a good team. They are well coached, and they aren't going to fall away unless you stay on them. They did a nice job of coming back and made some runs and some nice plays," stated Coach Kreklow.
As a result of Nebraska's sweep of Iowa State, the Tigers are now just one match behind Kansas State (5-3) and the Cyclones (5-3) for fourth place in the conference. ISU and K-State will play Saturday.
The Missouri Tigers will try to extend their winning streak this weekend, as they head to Waco, Texas to take on the Baylor Bears at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.