Hearnes Awakens With Volleyball's Tiger Invitational
8/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2007
 |
Tiger Invitational (RV) Missouri Tournament Schedule Friday, August 31:
Saturday, September 1 : Sunday, September 2:
Series Matchup
|
COLUMBIA, Mo.-- It will have been 280 days since the Hearnes Center floor has last seen a volleyball match when the University of Missouri meets the University of Notre Dame Friday night at 6:30 p.m., in the opening match of the Tiger Invitational. Both teams are receiving votes in the latest CSTV/AVCA Coaches' Top 25 and are meeting for the second time in two years. Last year's meeting went the full five and the Tigers came out on top 15-13 in the final frame. On Sunday, Mizzou hosts Florida International in the tournament's finale.
Scouting Notre Dame ...
The Tigers and the Irish met last year in South Bend in the finals of the Shamrock Invite, where Mizzou pulled off a come-from-behind victory in five sets to defeat Notre Dame 3-2. Down two sets to one, the Tigers tied the match at two games apiece with a 30-26 victory in the fourth set, and sealed the emotional win with a 15-13 victory in the final set. Several Tigers gave career-best performances including then-senior Jessica Vander Kooi who blew away the Irish with 30 kills and 25 digs, adding eight blocks. Then-freshman Julianna Klein produced big numbers as well, scoring a, then career-best, with 19 kills. Notre Dame's Christina Kaelin paced the Irish with a team-high 24 kills.
Notre Dame looks to bounce back from a rough start, managing to win only one set in two losses to top-10 opponents at home this past weekend. The Irish were defeated 3-0 by No. 9 Minnesota on Friday to open the tournament and 3-1 by No. 7 Florida on Sunday. Through the first weekend, Notre Dame is led by Adrianna Stasiuk with 3.29 kills per game, followed closely by Megan Fesl who has 3.14 kpg.
The Irish are seeking to improve on last season's 18-14 record and third-place finish in the Big East. Seniors Stasiuk and Ashley Tarutis will be looked upon to provide leadership for a fairly young Notre Dame team. Sophomore OH Serenity Phillips and freshman MB Kellie Sciacca have been impressive early and will need to continue to be as the Irish aim for their sixteenth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. They were ousted by Wisconsin in the first round of the tournament last season.
Notre Dame is 0-2 all-time against the Tigers, losing six of nine sets overall.
Scouting Florida International ...
FIU is coming off a very strong showing this past weekend in Berkley, Calif., as they finished runners-up at the Cal Molten Classic. The Golden Panthers began the tournament Friday as they defeated Northwestern in five sets. Trailing after three, FIU had outstanding performances in the final two sets to seal the victory. On Saturday, FIU defeated Idaho 3-1 to send them to the championship match against host No. 10 California. The Golden Panthers struggled to find rhythm Sunday and were outscored by 30 points in a three-set loss to Cal.
FIU returns several key players, including sophomore All-American OH Yarimar Rosa, who was chosen as the Sun Belt Conference's Preseason Player of the Year. Rosa returns this season more experienced as she captained Puerto Rico in this summer's FIVB World Junior Championships. Also returning is senior S Keila Oliveira, who, along with Rosa, was named to the First-Team All-Sun Belt squad last season.
This will be the first time in 24 years that the Golden Panthers and Tigers have faced each other in volleyball. The last match ended in a 2-1 win for the Tigers in Provo, Utah in 1983.
-- Blair Miller
About That Ole Miss Match
For a season opener the Tigers' 3-2 (28-30, 30-27, 32-34, 30-13, 14-16) loss to Mississippi in the earliest season opener in school history last Friday had all of the intrigue of any match anyone may ever see ...Tiger Head Coach Wayne Kreklow later said, "It definitely had a post-season atmosphere to it." ... Here are some useful, some weird, and some interesting notes from the Tigers' first match in the state of Mississippi.
- At 2 hours, 41 minutes the match was the third-longest in Mizzou history ... Mizzou's five-set dramatic, come-from-behind, five-set win at Nebraska in 2003 is the all-time leader in length, chiming in at 2 hours, 50 minutes (28-30, 24-30, 30-25, 31-29, 15-9)
- The final point total, 134 to 120 ... for better-or-for-worse, Mizzou had the 134, setting a new school record for most points (14) to outscore the opponent and still lose ... both of the former school records (10), surprisingly enough, came in the side-out era (pre-2001) of volleyball scoring ... the Tiger rally-record was nine in a 2005 match at home against Colorado.
- Mizzou's 134 is also the second-most amount of points a Tiger squad has ever scored in a match.
- Three of the games were decided by two points, marking the 14th time in Tiger history that its happened in a match ... it was only the second time in history that Mizzou was on the losing end of all three of those two-pointers, the other?, a match at UMKC in September 1994 (14-16, 14-16, 15-9, 15-10, 13-15).
- The Tigers held Ole Miss to only 13 points in the fourth frame with a deadly efficient .417 hitting strike ... the 13 is the least amount of points the Tigers have allowed in a rally-scoring fourth set.
- Mizzou outhit Ole Miss .176 to .156 and the loss snapped a Mizzou 22-match winning streak when hitting better than the opponent.
Milestone Watch
- Senior Na Yang topped the 1,000-career kills mark with her 18 kill performance in last weekend's finale of the Magnolia Classic against Arkansas State, becoming the 11th Tiger over the 1,000 mark ... Na can enter the Tiger All-Time top 10 with 27 kills this weekend.
- Senior Tatum Ailes already holds the Mizzou all-time record in digs with 1,508, and just recently became the first to top 1,500, but how high will the bar be set?
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.
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.
Go RV'ing
Although the Tigers were dropped from the Top 25 Monday, they remain in the "RV" category, receiving votes in the poll. Mizzou would be 30th if you kept counting from 25. Mizzou was actually RV'ing going into the NCAA Tournament last year, but a great post-season push gave Mizzou a final No. 21 ranking.
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.
###
