A Writer's Take on Mizzou Volleyball's NCAA Run
12/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2007
Here's a look back at Mizzou's near-upset of Washington in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament thanks to newspapers in both Columbia and Seattle.
Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri Volleyball Ousted in Thriller
Seattle Times: Missouri Gives UW a Scare
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Huskies Avoid Historic Volleyball Upset
MISSOURI VOLLEYBALL OUSTED IN THRILLER
as appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune, December 1, 2007
SEATTLE - Four points.
The Missouri volleyball team came within four points of pulling the upset of the decade, falling 30-23, 28-30, 30-22, 32-34, 15-11 to sixth-seeded Washington last night.
Led by Na Yang's 26 kills, the Tigers had the Huskies on their heels all night. Despite playing before a boisterous Washington crowd of 3,346, Missouri came within a whisper of becoming the first unseeded team to knock off a seeded team in the first round ever since the tournament went to a 64-team format.
"For people who love collegiate volleyball," said Missouri Coach Wayne Kreklow, "they got their money's worth."
The Huskies won Game 1 behind the hitting of a player from Big 12 country, Austin's Becky Perry. But the Tigers stormed back in Game 2, as Na dominated both sides of the net, with timely blocks and nine kills. With the Huskies threatening to overcome a six-point deficit, Amanda Hantouli pounced on a game-ending kill.
Na remained hot in Game 3 on her way to setting a school season record with 522 kills. But Washington All-American Christal Morrison combined tough serving with eight kills, overcoming another eight kills from Na.
Game 4 seemed like a contest suited to the Final Four. With the Huskies up 27-24, Hantouli had two kills and Na three to tie the game at 30. Megan Wilson caught fire; her three kills led Missouri to a 34-32 victory.
The deciding game began ugly, as Tigers setter Lei Wang fell to the floor on the first point, clutching her ankle. But Kreklow remained calm.
"This team is the grittiest and toughest team we've ever had," he said. "After Lei went down, they found a way to keep playing."
Just five points later, Lei returned to the court, and the Tigers battled to an 11-11 tie. Libero Tatum Ailes dug Washington attacks all night, finishing with a Big-12 record 39 digs for the match.
"Setting the record is pretty awesome. You always want to go out with your best game, Ailes said after the match.
With the crowd on its feet, Washington won the final four points, and Missouri's team was at an end.
as appeared in the Seattle Times, December 1, 2007
written by Terry Wood
All night the crowd of 3,346 at Edmundson Pavilion was waiting to exhale and after an agonizing, 2 ½-hour wait, it finally arrived when Becky Perry and Alesha Deesing teamed up for an emotionally exhausting match point.
This is the kind of match Washington volleyball coach Jim McLaughlin would call big-time. The result, a tension-packed 3-2 Washington win over a stunningly resilient Missouri squad in a first-round match of the NCAA tournament, will go down as a big whew for the Huskies.
Sixth-seeded Washington (27-3), which barely avoided becoming the first seeded team in this decade to lose to an unseeded team in the first round of the tournament, advances to face Brigham Young in a second-round match today at 6 p.m. The Cougars (22-7) swept Mississippi 3-0 in Friday's early match. Today's winner moves on to the Sweet 16 and regional play at Penn State. Missouri finishes its season at 17-13.
In a night of fantastic rallies, heroic digs and thunderous exchanges of power, the Huskies hung on to win one of the most anxiety-filled evenings of volleyball in recent Edmundson memory, winning 30-23, 28-30, 30-22, 32-34, 15-11.
It was a night ith 41 ties and 14 lead changes. Washington trailed in the first four games and let a three-point lead vanish in Game 5 before the Huskies, with the score tied at 11, scored the final four points to claim the white-knuckle victory.
McLaughlin said this was not an off-night for Washington but an above-average performance by a team that plays a speedy brand of offense and has a remarkably stout defense, which recorded 94 digs.
"Missouri played really well and put a lot of pressure on us defensively, just digging a ton of balls," McLaughlin said. "I thought we were good, for the most part. Our offense was good, but I thought where we struggled was our defense-to-offense transition.
"Mizzou dug 94 balls," he said. "I think that's a record against us. On the other hand, we dug 90. We played well. We just didn't convert as often as we needed to. That's what it comes down to in a championship match: Who can create the most opportunities and who can convert? We just did a little bit better, we hung in there and won the thing."
"Anything can happen in this tournament," he added. "It's just good to have this under our belt."
Christal Morrison set a postseason record for Washington with 27 kills, hitting .333 with just five errors on 66 attacks. Perry, a 6-foot-2 redshirt freshman, was equally spectacular, slamming down 21 kills on 34 swings with just four errors, a hitting percentage of .500.
Three other Huskies finished with double-digit kills: Stevie Mussie (15), Jessica Swarbrick (11) and Deesing (10). Libero Tamari Miyashiro, with 38 digs, was indispensable as the Tigers blasted, jabbed and tipped away at UW's defense with maddening effectiveness.
Morrison stressed that keeping composure was essential to pulling out such an emotionally intense win.
The Huskies were a hollering, barking bunch on the floor.
"We were fired up," Morrison said. "But our thinking was, let's really just do our stuff. We can't control them or how well or how badly they play, and they played really well tonight. It's really about our side of the net and staying focused on our side of the court."
HUSKIES AVOID HISTORIC VOLLEYBALL UPSET
as appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 1, 2007
written by Derek Belt
Washington volleyball coach Jim McLaughlin is the only coach in NCAA history to win a national championship with both the men and the women.
Friday night at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, however, he nearly made history again for a far less memorable reason.
The No. 6 Huskies dodged a big bullet when they slipped past Missouri 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Had the Huskies lost, they would have become the first ranked team to lose to an unseeded team since the NCAA began seeding teams for the tournament in 2000.
Washington, the 2005 national champion, is attempting to become only the sixth school in NCAA history to make the Final Four in four consecutive seasons.
Coming into the contest, unseeded teams were 0-112 all-time against their seeded opponents.
"What a match," McLaughlin said, breathing easy again after the Huskies held on for a 30-23, 28-30, 30-22, 32-34, 15-11 victory. "Missouri played really well. They put a lot of pressure on us defensively and just dug some balls. They were a very good team."
Washington (27-3) plays Brigham Young (22-7) Saturday at 6 p.m. in the second round, with the winner advancing to regional play Dec. 7-8 at Penn State. BYU swept Mississippi in Friday's early game.
Missouri (17-12) gave the Huskies all they could handle.
Strong defense and 94 digs kept Washington's hard-hitting offense out of sync, while 26 kills by 6-foot-2 outside hitter Na Yang kept the Tigers within striking distance. But the UW did its part defensively and showed plenty of grit, digging 90 balls of its own.
Add to that the fact Washington had five players in double figures in kills and it's no wonder this team is poised for another Final Four run.
"We knew they were going to dig some balls, but that's the part of the game where we have to keep hitting our shots and keep taking our tough swings and not let it affect us," said outside hitter Christal Morrison, who made play after play to keep the Huskies in the hunt.
Morrison, a four-time All-American and the UW's career leader in kills, set the school record for most postseason kills in a match with 27, while redshirt freshman Becky Perry wasn't far behind, tallying 21 kills.
True freshman Jenna Hagglund also set a school record, dishing out 76 assists to surpass the old mark of 70. Junior middle blocker Jessica Swarbrick set another school record with 12 blocks, and Perry added 11 blocks.
"I think Chris and Becky kind of carried the load," McLaughlin said. "We had no presence in the middle of the court, and we're at our best when we have that. We'll have that (against BYU)."
Washington won Game 1 in typical Huskies fashion, pressing the Tigers on offense and coming up with key digs on defense. But it wasn't perfect, and Missouri took the momentum and Game 2 to even the match.
Morrison and fellow outside hitter Stevie Mussie owned Game 3, but the Tigers kept their composure and won an epic Game 4. Washington fought off two game points before falling in that one.
"There's ebbs and flows, and the only thing I was disappointed in was when we were in the valley we got unsettled," McLaughlin said. "We're going to be in the valleys in this tournament, and we've got to maintain our composure."
In the deciding game, Washington charged to a 9-6 lead before Missouri rallied back to tie the score at 10. A monster kill by Mussie and a timely ace by libero Tamari Miyashiro, followed by a critical attacking error by the Tigers, pushed the score to 14-11.
A gripping rally ensued, and Perry went up and made a big block to give Washington its clinching point.
"We have confidence in this team, and we know that if we play well we'll win," Morrison said.
