University of Missouri
Baylor
Mizzou Shakes Off Bears in Third-Straight Fiver
11/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 2, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers (14-10, 7-8 Big 12) overcame two sloppy, error-ridden games to upend the Baylor Bears (14-11, 6-8 Big 12) 30-21, 25-30, 29-31, 30-22, 15-13, on Friday night. With the victory, the Tigers extended their home winning streak against Baylor to six games. Mizzou stomped the Bears' five-match winning streak. Senior Na Yang led Mizzou with a conference-season-best 29 kills.
Yang had a record-setting night, recording a double-double with 29 kills, her career high, and 12 digs. The 29 kills were the most by any Big 12 player this season, and put Yang in a tie for seventh most in a match in school history. In addition, her 33.0 points on the night were the most for any Tiger on the season. The match was Na's ninth season 20-plus kill performance, the most in Missouri history. The 74 attacks by Yang were also a career high.
Three other Tigers scored double-digits in kills. Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) recorded 15, Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) added 13, and Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) contributed with 12. Defensively, the Tigers were led by Tatum Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.), who added 23 digs on the evening. Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) added 18 digs of her own. The Tigers recorded nine service aces in the match.
As a team, Missouri recorded 21.0 blocks, the fifth most in Mizzou history and second most on the season. The team notched 24.0 team blocks in their match at Colorado earlier in the season.
The Tigers used an impressively strong offensive attack and took advantage of the 10 errors committed by Baylor to upend the Bears in game one, 30-21. The Tigers hit a remarkable .400 in a game that saw five ties and four lead changes, most of them early on in the frame. After Baylor took a 5-4 lead, Mizzou rallied off a dominating 14-5 run to expand their lead to 18-10, completely stifling the Bears for the rest of the game. Baylor was able to cut the lead to 23-18, but the Tigers used a 7-3 run at the end of the game that sealed the deal for Mizzou. Amanda Hantouli had four kills and three blocks. Na Yang led all Tiger scorers with six kills.
The Bears used a big surge early in the game and fought off the Tigers late as they went on to even the match up, taking the game 30-25. Baylor opened up the game with a 10-3 run, which included six straight points in the middle of the run. The Bears held that lead and watched it grow to 18-10 before the Tigers started to crawl back into it. Missouri took the next three points to make it 18-13, and took five of the next seven out of a Baylor timeout to cut the Bears' lead down to 20-18. After another Baylor timeout, the Bears were able to shut the door on the Tiger comeback, as Mizzou was unable to score consecutive points for the rest of the game. The Tigers committed nine errors and hit just .048 in the frame. Na Yang led Missouri with five kills to go along with a block and a service ace. Amanda Hantouli had three more kills, and Caitlyn Vann led the team defensively with six digs. Baylor had 19 kills in the game, led by Anna Breyfogle's six.
Missouri mounted an insurmountable comeback against the Bears in game three, only to fall short in heartbreaking fashion as they dropped the game 31-29. Game three started off very similar to game two, with Baylor jumping out to a big lead early while taking advantage six Tiger errors within the first 17 points. With the score at 10-7, Baylor began taking complete control of the match, scoring 13 of the next 19 points to lead 23-13. The Tigers then began to rally back, scoring six in a row and nine of the next 10 to pull within two points. After Baylor extended their lead to 27-23, Mizzou scored the next four points to tie, which included two big blocks that resulted in points by Na Yang. Baylor took the next point to regain the lead, but Mizzou scored the next two to take a 29-28 lead and control of game point. Unfortunately for Missouri, that would be the end of their offensive attack for the game. Baylor scored the next point to tie it up 29-29, and then recorded an ace to take the lead before finishing off the Tigers in game three. Both squads committed double-digit errors in the game; Missouri had 11 while the Bears had 10. Megan Wilson and Na Yang led all scorers with five kills in the stanza. Weiwen Wang did a little bit of everything in the frame, notching three kills, one assist, two digs and two blocks.
The Tigers were able to regain their composure in game four and evened up the match, controlling the entire game on the way to a 30-22 victory. Missouri recorded a .327 hitting percentage and committed just five errors in the frame. Baylor jumped out to an early 8-5 lead, but a 5-0 run by the Tigers set the tempo for the rest of game and gave them the lead for good. Baylor hung around for a while, but Missouri was able to put them away with a late 5-0 run that included three tip-kills by Na Yang. Yang had a total of nine kills in the game, while Weiwen Wang had four.
Behind only one error and a team hitting percentage of .308, the Tigers were able to fight off a battling Baylor team. The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match, but Baylor scored six of the next eight to take a 6-5 lead. The two teams battled to a 10-10 tie before Missouri scored two straight, forcing Baylor to take a timeout. Following the timeout, Baylor scored three of the next four to even the match up at 13 apiece, but Missouri was able to take the next two and complete the comeback, defeating Baylor 15-13. Megan Wilson had four kills in the frame, while Na Yang added four.
The match was the third straight five-game set for Missouri, and the 10th five-game match on the season, tying school record for the Tigers. Missouri is 5-5 in five-game matches this year.
The Tigers will have a bye on Wednesday, but will resume action next Saturday when they head to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Tigers swept the Red Raiders in Columbia earlier in the season.
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