University of Missouri
Baylor
Tiger Volleyball Wins Fifth Straight, Awaits No. 1 Nebraska
10/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 13, 2007
WACO, Texas - The Missouri volleyball team (12-6, 5-4 Big 12) won their fifth-straight match on Saturday night and their third in a sweep as the Tigers downed the Baylor Bears (9-10, 2-7 Big 12) in Waco, 30-27, 30-25, 30-23. Senior Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) continues her hot streak, scoring a match-high 19 kills with a .341 hitting percentage. Yang also added 25 clean serve receptions and 13 digs in a great all-around night. The Tigers will now host three top-20 teams in a row, starting with No. 1 Nebraska Wednesday.
As a result of No. 16 Kansas State's win over Iowa State, the Tigers move into a tie for fifth place in the Big 12. Mizzoi has the third-longest winning streak in the league, behind No. 1 Nebraska and No. 7 Texas, both teams the Tigers host next week.
Sophomore Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) scored 11 kills as Mizzou's second-leading scorer. Amanda Hantouli led the Tigers in the blocks category with four.
Senior Tatum Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) scooped 21 digs to lead all in the category. Freshman Caitlyn Vann added 15 digs. Ailes also had two aces as part of Mizzou's five ace night.
Game one started with a kill by Mizzou's Yang, but Baylor would quickly take the lead and would maintain it until Mizzou scored for a 26-25 advantage. Baylor would go on an 8-2 run to spread the score to 11-5, forcing a Mizzou timeout. Baylor would again have leads of six at 13-7, 17-11 and 19-13, but a five-point serving run by Tatum Ailes that included two aces pulled Mizzou within one at 19-18. The Tigers played sideout-ball until 25-24 when Mizzou used another service run to reclaim the lead and scored four straight, exclaimed by a Hantouli-Lei Wang double block. Baylor would come within one again at 28-27 to force Mizzou final timeout, but a Lei Wang kill and a solo block by Megan Wilson gave Mizzou the game one win. The Tigers were outhit .212 to .178 in the first frame. Tatum Ailes had seven digs in the first stanza.
A pair of plays by Amanda Hantouli highlighted Mizzou's 30-25 game two win. Hantouli used a misdirection tip kill to give Mizzou a 24-19 lead and force a Baylor timeout. The kill was part of a 6-1 Tiger run that included three Yang kills and a Weiwen Wang ace. Baylor fought back to make the score 25-24, but Hantouli's solo block to end a super-long rally started a Mizzou 5-1 run to end the game. Mizzou hit .312 to Baylor's .200 in the second frame. Mizzou's Yang had eight kills in the stanza to lead Mizzou in the category.
In game three, the Tigers used a 7-1 run and the serving of Lei Wang to separate from the Bears and pull to a 16-8 lead. Another run of 5-2 which included four Yang kills put the score to 21-13.
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