Oct. 23, 2007
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#15 Kansas State at Missouri Volleyball Quick Links Multimedia
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Series Matchup
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COLUMBIA, Mo.— The Mizzou volleyball squad (12-8, 5-6 Big 12) just came off of two tough matches with two, now, top five teams in the country and will again host another nationally ranked team on Wednesday as the Tigers will face the Wildcats of Kansas State, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., in the Hearnes Center. K-State (15-6, 7-4), ranked 15th nationally, topped the Tigers in Manhattan for the first time in five tries back on September 26, and are looking for its first series sweep of Mizzou since 2004.
Scouting Kansas State …
Kansas State comes to Columbia fresh off a 3-1 weekend loss at Oklahoma following 3-0 wins in their previous two matches. The loss dropped the Wildcats to fourth place in the Big 12 conference.
Despite the loss, Kansas State posted several impressive numbers. Junior OH Nataly Korobkova recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 21 kills to go along with eleven digs. Senior L Angie Lastra added a season-high 29 digs for the Wildcats.
Korobkova has led the Kansas State attack in conference play, averaging 4.37 kills per match, and leads the Wildcats with 224 points. Junior MB Megan Farr leads Kansas State with a .378 hitting percentage. The Wildcats rank in the top four in every Big 12 offensive category.
Perhaps most astonishing has been Kansas State's prowess behind the endline. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 with 163 service aces, averaging 2.14 per match. Their total is 43 more than Texas A&M, who ranks second in conference play in the category.
Kansas State controlled their last match against Missouri with their serving, notching ten aces in a 3-0 sweep of the Tigers earlier this season in Manhattan.
Junior OH Rita Lilliom led the Wildcats offensively in that match, recording 15 kills en route to a .583 hitting percentage while also leading the team with four aces. Sophomore MB Kelsey Chipman also added ten kills on 16 attempts for Kansas State.
The Wildcats have not won in Columbia since sweeping the Tigers in September 2004, and have had their biggest problems this conference season away from home. Of their 15 set losses in conference play, nine have come on the road.
Kansas State looks to keep pace with its best conference start since 2004, when the team started 10-4 in conference on their way to a fifth-place conference finish and a second-round NCAA appearance.
-- Blair Miller
Start Time for This Weekend's Kansas Road Match Changed
Kansas has announced a time change to the Mizzou-Kansas volleyball match for October 27. The match will now begin at 3 p.m.
Tigers Hooked by the Horns At Home For First Time Since 1999
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team (12-8, 5-6 Big 12) endured another heartbreaking loss in game one that turned into a disappointing three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Longhorns (14-3, 10-1 Big 12) on Saturday. The Tigers fell in the match 29-31, 17-30, 22-30 for their second consecutive loss, both against ranked opponents, since getting back to .500 in conference play earlier in the month. The win was the tenth straight for Texas, a season high for the squad. It was also the first win at the Hearnes Center for the Longhorns since 1999, breaking a seven-game losing streak in Columbia.
The Longhorns had five girls who recorded nine kills or more, including 11 from Ashley Engle and 20 from Juliann Faucette. Engle also notched 12 digs for a double-double. The Longhorns recorded 23 blocks between six players, with Lauren Paolini leading the way with six.
For Missouri, Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) had an impressive night with 19 kills and five digs, while Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) threw down 10 kills of her own. Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) finished the night with 28 assists and nine digs, one short of a double-double. Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) led the Tigers defensively with five blocks to go along with her five kills.
The final result of game one might've looked eerily similar to Wednesday's game one against Nebraska to many of the fans in attendance. Wednesday night, the Tigers had game point in the first frame against the Cornhuskers before giving up the next three points to drop the game 31-29. This game against the Longhorns saw the Tigers jump out to an early lead thanks to a 7-2 run to put Missouri up 12-8 at that point. The Tigers kept pushing forward, holding their lead late by the score of 27-24. Out of a Longhorns timeout, however, Texas rallied off five of the next seven, including two in a row after Missouri took over game point at 29-27, and knotted the game up at 29 apiece. The Tigers were able to make it 30-29 after a Texas error, one of eight in the game for the Longhorns, but Texas proved to be too much, scoring the next three points to secure the game one victory 32-30. The Tigers struggled with consistency, hitting just .157 while committing nine errors. Na Yang had an impressive game for Missouri, throwing down eight kills, while the defense contributed with eight blocks between four girls, including three by Amanda Hantouli.
Like the Difference Between Night and Day…
Heading into last week's matches against the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers and the then-No. 6 Texas Longhorns, one can see that there have been two distinct halves and two different Mizzou teams have shown up on the court this conference season. After outside hitter Julianna Klein went down with season-ending knee injury prior to the Big 12 season, Mizzou went through a period of trial-and-error, trying to find the right combination of players to pick up for the offense and defense they were now missing. Needless to say, this trial period did not bode well for the Missouri Tiger volleyball team.
After four conference games, Mizzou was winless and questions remained whether or not the Tigers would be able to rebound after such a tough stretch of games. To put it in perspective, one could look at the Tigers team stats and understand why they were 0-4 in conference play. They were eighth in the Big 12 in hitting percentage at .187, and they were only averaging 2.1 blocks per game. And the Tigers were not helping there own cause with unforced errors and having a block differential against their opponents of negative 16.5. More importantly though, the Tigers lacked cohesion with the six they put on the court night-in and night-out. Mizzou tried many different lineups to spark a winning trend, Weiwen Wang was moved from middle blocker to outside hitter, true freshman Catie Wilson was inserted into the everyday lineup, having to play the outside hitter position for the first time in her life, and Mizzou even began running a 6-2 offense with Lei Wang and Luiza Jarocka splitting the setting duties. The latter was something that Mizzou volleyball coaches Susan and Wayne Kreklow have never implemented on a full-time basis during their tenure at Mizzou.
Change was good for Mizzou volleyball in this instance, however. And the chance to knock-off the then-co-conference leader Oklahoma also added a little motivation to turn the tide of their season. After a thrilling five-set victory over No. 25-ranked Oklahoma, Mizzou began their “new” season in the Big 12 Conference and have won five straight entering Wednesday's home match against Nebraska.
The 6-2 offense was a key difference in Mizzou's play and several Tigers have stepped-up their game since the four-match losing streak.
With Na Yang being a consistent threat on the outside for most of the season Megan Wilson picked up the slack over the last five matches by averaging 3.74 kills per game and 0.95 blocks per game during the winning streak. She recorded 11 solo blocks during that stretch, equaling the 11 solo blocks her teammates combined to record. During the four-game losing streak to open conference play, Wilson was only averaging 2.69 kills per game and 0.75 blocks per games.
Also, the 6-2 offense meant that Lei Wang was going to be an even more integral part of Mizzou's offense as well. Primarily being a setter for her entire career at Mizzou, Lei's role has greatly increased over the past few games. In short, she has played every position on the court except libero and defensive specialist. During the winning streak, Wang has recorded 1.58 kills per game, 9.00 assists per game, 2.95 digs per game and 0.95 blocks per game. Wang has grown accustomed with her new role as Mizzou has produced better on the court.
As a team, it helps that Mizzou has got off to a fast start against their opponents recently as well. Over the last five matches, Mizzou has won each of the first two sets.
Though, the quick start is directly related to their more efficient offense and scrappier defense. Mizzou now ranks third in the Big 12 in hitting percentage at .244 and second in digs per game (16.66).
-- portions by Ryan Dunaj and McClain Thompson
Klein's ACL is a Sideliner
The results from an MRI test conducted on September 10 came back with unsavory results as Mizzou OH sophomore Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) was diagnosed with a torn ACL in her left knee which was a result of an injury suffered in a September 8 match versus Houston in San Marcos, Texas.
In the third of four games against Houston, with the Tigers up 20-12, Klein went to attack a ball and then came down in pain.
Klein was leading Mizzou with 4.44 kills per game, up from her 2.75 average her freshman season and stood fourth in the Big 12 in the category. In addition, Klein's defense showed much improvement as her digs-per-game shot from 0.75 her frosh campaign to 2.85 this season, resulting in the first five kill-dig double-doubles of her career. Along with leading Mizzou with 0.48 service aces per game, Klein was third in the Big 12 with 5.30 points per game, behind only 2006 National Player of the Year Sarah Pavan of Nebraska and All-American Destinee Hooker of Texas.
Despite not playing in the final match of the CenturyTel Premier against host Texas State, Klein was named the tournament's MVP, scoring 5.67 kills per game on a .342 hitting strike for the Tigers while adding 3.33 digs per game and scoring 6.67 points per game.
Klein was also named to Ole Miss' Magnolia Classic All-Tournament team, opening the season with a career-best 26 kills against the Rebels.
Big 12 Report
After winning their last five matches, the Missouri Tigers faced the top two teams in the Big 12, Nebraska and Texas, back to back. Both matches had a similar feel to them, as the Tigers played both teams extremely close in the first game, holding one or more game points in each, only to let the game get away. Both fist game losses drained Missouri and the Longhorns and Cornhuskers showed why they are two of the top six teams in the country, as they blew the Tigers away to finish the sweep in both matches. Missouri looks to bounce back this week as it hosts Kansas State before traveling to Lawrence to take on the rival Kansas Jayhawks.
The Baylor Bears were tested to the max last week, as both their matches went the full five games. Baylor went on the road to Kansas to defeat a pesky Jayhawk squad in five games, breaking a streak that saw the Bears lose four of their last five matches. Baylor's next time out wasn't any easier for them, as Colorado took them to a fifth game in Waco. The Bears go out of conference this week, when they travel to instate rival TCU during their idle part of the conference schedule. On Saturday, the team travels to Lubbock, to take on another instate rival, Texas Tech.
Colorado continues to have horrible luck this conference season, as the Buffs are still winless, after dropping five game matches to both Iowa State and Baylor. Colorado is winless in conference play, but has taken seven of their 11 losses to five games. Interestingly enough, the Buffs have won more games in matches than three of the teams that have beaten them, as Colorado has won 16 total games, while Baylor haw won 13, Kansas nine and Texas Tech eight. Colorado will try to pick up its first conference win, as they welcome both No. 21 Oklahoma and No. 6 Texas to Boulder.
Iowa State's victory in its only match of the week was good enough to give them sole possession of fifth place in the conference. The 3-2 win over Colorado gives the Cyclones a 6-4 record, only one game behind Kansas State. The Cyclones will try to continue their winning ways, as they host Texas Tech, before a rematch with Kansas State in Manhattan. Just two weeks ago, Kansas State broke a tie between the two schools, which accounts for the one game lead over Iowa State.
After losing it's last three, the Kansas Jayhawks will try to get a win as they face the Texas A&M Aggies and Missouri Tigers this week. Last week, Baylor came to Lawrence, and defeated the Jayhawks in five games, before becoming Nebraska's seventeenth sweep of the season. Kansas will be looking to avenge A&M's three game sweep, when they travel to College Station before hosting archrival Missouri.
After going 1-1 last week, the Kansas State Wildcats will try to get back on the winning track as they travel to Columbia to face the Missouri Tigers before hosting Iowa State. Last week's split result dropped the Wildcats one spot in the national rankings, dropping from the number fourteen spot to number fifteen.
No. 1 Nebraska continued its hot streak as it swept all three opponents last week, including No. 11 Hawaii. The other two victims of the Cornhuskers' dominance were rival Missouri and Kansas. After having Missouri push them to the limit in game 1, the Huskers showed the folks in Columbia why they are the top team in the nation, defeating the Tigers with ease in the other two games. Their match against the Wahine drew the largest crowd to ever witness an NCAA regular season crowd of 13,394 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Unlike Kansas State, No. 21 Oklahoma moved up two spots, from 23rd to 21st, after going 1-1 last week. One reason may be that their one win was against those very Wildcats. Their loss of the week came to No. 6 Texas. The Sooners will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to Colorado before hosting Texas A&M.
No. 6 Texas extended its season long winning streak to ten, as the Longhorns swept both Missouri and Oklahoma. Both victories came on the road. Texas starts its second half of the season against the same team they began the conference season against: No. 1 and undefeated Nebraska. The Longhorns will be looking for revenge after a 3-0 sweep suffered in Lincoln. Unlike the first match though, Texas will have both Ashley Engle and Destinee Hooker in the lineup. In their second match of the week, Texas will travel to Colorado.
The Texas A&M volleyball team has had its ups and downs this year, but right now is on a three game winning streak, after sweeping Sam Houston State and Texas Tech last week. They go into this week, looking to extend the winning streak to five, as they take on Kansas and rival Oklahoma.
After wining their conference opener, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have lost ten conference matches in a row. Last week, the Raiders were swept for the sixth time this conference season. Tech will look to reverse its fortunes as it travels to Iowa to take on Iowa State, before hosting in state rival Baylor.
-- Mike Wojtychiw
Television For Iowa State's Visit to Columbia
The November 14 volleyball match in the Hearnes Center between the Missouri Tigers and the Iowa State Cyclones will be televised on the Mizzou Sports Network. FSN Midwest will air the match live in Mid-Missouri and St. Louis while those in Kansas City can catch live action on MetroSports.
The Wednesday match is slated for a 6:30 p.m., start, and will be the third televised match of the season.
FSN Midwest and FSN Rocky Mountain will air live coverage of Mizzou's match at Colorado on October 3 while CSTV will air live coverage of the Tigers' visit to Nebraska on October 31.
Schedule Change
The Tigers' second match of the season versus Baylor, originally scheduled for Saturday, November 3, has been moved to Friday, November 2. The match time will remain at 6:30 p.m.
Notes to Keep in Mind … 2006 Revisited
- The Tigers are coming off a 2006 campaign that included a seventh-consecutive birth to the NCAA Tournament. As a result, Mizzou and Nebraska are now the only programs in the Big 12 Conference to have made the post-season every year since 2000.
- Mizzou won their first-round matchup in the tournament for the third-straight year in 2006, knocking off No. 21 Santa Clara in a three-game sweep in Palo Alto, Calif. The Tigers forced eventual national runner-up Stanford to a five-game thriller in the second round on the Cardinal's home floor, coming back from a game down and 16-10 deficit in the fourth stanza to produce a fifth-game.
- Despite an 18-13 final record in 2006, the end-of-the-season surge produced a No. 21 final ranking in the AVCA Top 25, marking Mizzou's third-straight year among the nation's best. Only 15 teams have been sited on at least the last three final national polls.
Ailes, Big 12's Defensive Player of the Week – October 15
The Big 12 Conference announced Monday afternoon that Missouri senior Tatum Ailes won the conference's Defensive Player of the Week award. Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) proved once again last week to be a defensive force in leading the Tigers to sweeps over Texas A&M and Baylor, helping Mizzou (12-6, 5-4 Big 12) to its fifth-straight victory. Ailes tallied 6.67 digs per game, 40 total, in the two matches and maintained a .951 serve-reception percentage in cleanly fielding 39-of-41 serve attempts coming her way last week.
Mizzou now has back-to-back conference award winners for the first time in program history as freshman Weiwen Wang won the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week award last Monday. This award is also Ailes' first weekly award from the conference. Ailes won Big 12 Libero of the Year honors in 2005.
In Wednesday's match versus Texas A&M, Ailes notched 19 digs while fielding 23-of-24 serve receptions. At Baylor on Saturday, Ailes had 21 digs to go with 15-of-16 serve receiving attempts. In addition, Ailes added two aces in a row in game one to give Mizzou the game one lead over the Bears.
Mizzou has now won five straight on the way to a fifth-place tie with Iowa State in the Big 12 standings and will host No. 1 Nebraska Wednesday and No. 7 Texas on Saturday.
“Wendy” Wang Earns Big 12 Acclaim – October 8
The Big 12 Conference announced on October 8 that Missouri freshman Weiwen Wang won the conference's Offensive Player of the Week award. Wang (Nanjing, China) led the Tigers to a 2-0 record on the week, which was part of a three-match winning streak at the time and included a five-game victory at Colorado and a sweep of Texas Tech, which allowed Mizzou to move from ninth to sixth place in the conference race. She averaged 5.62 points, 4.00 kills and 2.00 blocks while compiling a .527 hitting percentage and 1.38 digs per contest.
For the record, Weiwen's Tiger teammates call her “Wendy”.
At Colorado, Wang broke school records in blocks (13) and most kills without an error (19). Wang tallied a season-high 28 points in addition to recording the second-best attack clip (.559) in Mizzou history. The Nanjing, China native also contributed six digs and two aces to the Tigers' effort.
Against the Red Raiders, Wang posted 13 kills on a .476 hitting percentage with five digs, three blocks and two aces.
Wang was the first Tiger to win the honor since Jessica Vander Kooi's second career nod on September 25, 2006. In addition, she is the sixth person from Mizzou to win the honor in the last six years and the first Tiger freshman to win the award since Shen Danru did on September 9, 2002.
Preseason Impressions
The coaches of the Big 12 picked Mizzou to finish third in the Big 12 Conference this season. Defending National and Conference Champion Nebraska was picked to win for the fourth-straight year. Texas was voted second. Truth-be-told, the voting for the third through ninth spots was incredibly close. Right on the Tigers' heels (or tail) in the voting was Texas A&M and Colorado. Iowa State and Kansas State were very close in voting as well. Oklahoma, finished second in the league last year, is picked ninth this season. It should be a very interesting season in the league.
The national impression of the league is also striking. Nebraska was the coaches' preseason pick to at national No. 1. Texas is also expected to have a big year, they ranked 4th in the preseason national poll. The Tigers had a No. 20 preseason ranking with Oklahoma, mentioned earlier that they were picked to finish ninth in the league, had a No. 22 preseason standing, ending the 2006 season with a No. 12 ranking. Texas A&M, Colorado, and Iowa State all received votes in the poll.
Senior Salute
At no time in Mizzou volleyball history have players entered the season with as much playing experience in the NCAA Tournament as seniors Tatum Ailes and Na Yang. Helping the Tigers to their seventh-postseason run in 2006, both Yang and Ailes have played eight NCAA Tournament matches in their previous three years at Mizzou which includes a run to the field's round of eight in 2005.
Both Ailes and Yang were named to this season's Preseason All-Big 12 team, and for Ailes, she became the first defensive player in league history to earn such an honor.
Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) returns for her senior campaign fresh from an appearance on Team USA's A2-national training team this spring and returns to the team having been the Tigers' starting libero for three seasons. Meanwhile, Ailes has already made a lasting impression on the Mizzou program as the squad's all-time leader in digs and digs per game. In 2005, the coaches of the Big 12 named Ailes as Libero of the Year.
Yang (Shan Dong, China) is in her senior campaign as well and has an accomplished record from her previous three years at Mizzou. Yang has shown prowess during the regular season, but her numbers in the post-season are the outside-hitter's bread-and-butter. In eight NCAA Tournament matches, Yang has averaged 4.10 kills per game on a .304 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Surge
A very large, and important, piece of this year's puzzle is four returning Tigers in their second year of eligibility. The Class of '09 will vital in Mizzou's “Unleashing”.
Setter Lei Wang is already going into her second full year of leading the Tiger offense, coming off a successful frosh season in leading the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament with a 12.46 assists per game, 2.39 digs per game, and 0.98 points per game average. During the Big 12 season, Wang averaged 12.86 assists per game, ranking fifth in the league. Wang recorded 63 assists in the five-game NCAA second-round match at Stanford and was a crucial component of the Tiger game-four comeback, as Mizzou hit nearly .500 (13-2-24) from when the Tigers were down 16-10 to when Mizzou won the frame 30-25.
Keota, Iowa, native Julianna Klein stepped up during her true freshman season, finding a starting role in 18 matches last season. Klein scored 10-or-more kills in 16 matches last season, including scoring a season-high 21 kills versus Baylor on September 27. Against Stanford in the NCAA second round, Klein carded 14 kills and six digs. In addition, Klein's serve caught several opponents off guard early in the year as she scored 18 of her 23 aces from the season in the first 11 matches. Klein racked seven aces in an early-season tournament match against Villanova.
Amanda Hantouli started 25 matches last season as a redshirt freshman, finding her first playing time since an ACL injury sidelined the Omaha, Neb., native during her senior year in high school. Now a sophomore, Hantouli contributed 10-or-more kills in four contests and five-or-more blocks in six matches last season. Her play against Stanford in the NCAA second round gave many a picture into the possible future as she scored 10 kills on 15 attempts (.533), adding three blocks.
Megan Wilson will likely see quite a bit of playing time as a right-side hitter this season. The 6-2 sophomore from Lincoln, Neb., exposed much talent as a server as well last season. Against Stanford in the NCAA second round, Wilson added three crucial aces and served many points in efforts to throw the Cardinal offense. Wilson had three matches in 2006 with two-or-more aces.
Sparkling and New
This year's incoming freshman class will get much experience, very early. Unlike the class before that had three use redshirt seasons to refine their skills, this Class of 2010 will see time immediately.
Newcomer Caitlyn Vann comes to Mizzou from Muncie, Ind., and Burris High School. Vann, along with fellow newcomer Catie Wilson, was one of 35 to be named to the inaugural AVCA High School Senior All-American list. Vann was a three-time All-State selection at Burris, earning first-team honors in her junior and senior seasons. While Vann was recruited as a libero, she played as a left-side hitter in her years in high school, tallying 442 kills and 368 digs as team captain in her recently completed senior season. Vann was also a part of USA Volleyball's Junior National Training Team in 2006 and was before a two-year member of USAV's Youth National-A2 team.
Weiwen Wang comes to Mizzou from Nanjing, China, and is the fifth Tiger to come from the country. Wang was captain of her national-champion high school team and was a member of her country's team that won the 2006 World School Volleyball Championship in Porec, Croatia. Wang was also a member of the Chinese 15 & Under Youth National team that took third.
Catie Wilson (no relation to Megan Wilson) comes to Mizzou from Omaha, Neb., and Gross High School. Wilson, along with Vann was named to the AVCA's inaugural High School Senior All-American Team. In addition, Wilson was a four-time All-State selection, earning first-team honors in her junior and senior seasons.
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