Sept. 9, 2008

News & Notes in PDF Format

COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri volleyball team (4-2) travels to Reno, Nev., this weekend for the University of Nevada's AT&T Invitational, featuring the Wolfpack, No. 24 Pepperdine, and UC-Davis. The Tigers will open play against host Nevada on Friday night before playing No. 24 Pepperdine and UC-Davis on Saturday. All six matches of the AT&T Invitational will be streamed live via a subscription purchase on nevadawolfpack.com. This weekend will be Mizzou's last tune up before beginning Big 12 play next Wednesday at Oklahoma.

Vann Named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week ...
The Big 12 office announced Monday that Missouri sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) was named as the league's volleyball Defensive Player of the Week. Vann, collecting her first league honor, helped the Tigers (4-2) to a 2-1 record in the Spring Hill Suites at Arundel Mills Invitational in College Park, Md., last weekend, collecting 58 digs on the weekend (5.27 dps) including a Big 12 and career-high 34 in a five-set win over St. John's.

Mizzou swept host Maryland on Friday and won a 59-tie, 27-lead-change thriller over St. John's, a 2007 NCAA regional semifinalist, on Saturday. Kentucky, a 2007 NCAA-Tournament team, handed the Tigers its only loss in the tourney on Saturday morning.

Vann, the team's libero, also had double-digit dig totals in the sweep of Maryland (13) and against Kentucky (11).

Vann leads the Big 12 by a wide margin with 5.21 digs per set so far this season. Texas' Heather Kisner is next on the roll with 4.50 dps. Vann is also in the nation's top 20 in the category.

Sophomore Julianna Klein was named to the All-Tournament team at Maryland, leading Mizzou with 4.00 kills per set.

Scouting Nevada ...
The Wolfpack have started the season 2-3 losing to Valparaiso, Notre Dame and UCLA. They are predicted in the preseason to place sixth in the Western Athletic Conference behind the University of Hawai'i, New Mexico State, Idaho State, San Jose State and Utah State.

Sophomore middle blocker Lindsay Baldwin was named on the 2008 WAC Coach's Preseason team. Baldwin was the conference leader in blocking average for the whole season, 1.47 blocks per game and in conference play, 1.63 blocks per game. The Wolfpack will start only one senior, Allison Hernandez at libero.

Devin Scruggs will begin her 12th season with the University of Nevada. As head coach she has taken the team to all five of its tournament appearances. Mike Bettinghouse will begin work with the Wolf Pack as a volunteer assistant coach. Bettinghouse once was a member of the US Men's Volleyball National Team.

Scouting Pepperdine ...
The 24th-ranked Pepperdine Waves have eight letterwinners and five returning starters along with the nation's eighth-ranked recruiting class.  Pepperdine was the only West Coast Conference team to be ranked in the Top 20 in the Molten Volleyball Magazine preseason poll; they were picked 16th in that particular poll. The Waves are currently a perfect 6-0 on the season heading into the Nevada AT&T Invitational.

Senior outside hitter, Julie Rubenstein received the first WCC player of the week honor. In her career Rubenstein has been a three time All-WCC honoree and first team twice. Another standout for the Waves is junior setter Kiah Fiers. She was a first team All-WCC player last year and is third all time at Pepperdine with 12.37 assists per game.

Scouting UC-Davis ...
The Aggies welcomed Jaime Holmes as their new head coach this year. Holmes had previously been the assistant coach for The Ohio State University women's volleyball team since 2002. In her tenure at Ohio State she recruited 3 nationally ranked classes in 2004, 2006, and 2007. The Buckeyes also made four NCAA tournament appearances in that time.

The Aggies will be returning three senior starters including outside hitter, Renee Ibekwe, defensive specialist, Michelle Nelson and right-side hitter Chantal Paschetta. Also returning is junior setter Carson Lowden and outside hitter Kayla Varney who led the team with 3.31 kills a game as a freshman.

Going into the AT&T Invitational the Aggies are an almost perfect 6-1 with their only loss coming at the hands of St. Mary's in their first match of the season. In 2007, the Aggies were 4-24.

-- scouting by Dana Burton

The First to 25 ... Wins!
Okay, new rules. For the fourth time in a decade collegiate volleyball has made a major change to the game. In 2001, scoring went from side-out to rally. In 2003, we added the libero. In 2005, the libero could serve. AND, in 2008: we play to 25. Why keep a record book anymore? By the way, that's a joke.

Sets (yes, not games - that's an NCAA-mandated change in terminology) will be played to 25 points, with the fifth set still concluding at 15 points (you still have to win by two). The NCAA is progressively becoming more consistent with the FIVB (international federation) rules, and the change in scoring is a step in that direction. What does this mean bottom line? Shorter matches and a more concentrated effort to stop scoring runs before they the set becomes quickly out of hand.

Sing it Willie ...
"On the road again, I can't wait to get on the road again" ... The Tigers will take four trips in a row, to BYU, to Maryland, to Nevada, and to Oklahoma before playing a match in the Hearnes Center, that's 10 matches without a home contest, marking the longest such streak since 1997 when the Tigers played 15-consecutive matches away from home to start the season. 

In the Preseason ...
Mizzou was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 by the league coaches. Sophomore MB Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) was the lone Tiger selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team.

In her role, Wang led the Tiger team last year in service aces (34), and was second on the team in kills per set (2.96), blocks per set (0.89), hitting percentage (.256), and points per set (3.78). In addition, "Wendy" was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on October 8 after posting school records with 19 errorless kills and 13 total blocks in the October 3 match at Colorado. She repeated the 19 errorless kills when the Buffaloes came to Columbia on November 24.

Crazy Eights and Zero Seniors ...
What have we learned so far in 2008? If the Beijing Olympics taught us anything, it's that the number eight is a lucky number for the Chinese and in its culture, all the more evident with its beginning of the Olympic Opening Ceremony on 8-8-08 at 8:08:08 p.m.

The Missouri volleyball team in the 2008 season also wishes to employ the luck of the number EIGHT. The Tigers have been to EIGHT-consecutive NCAA Tournaments - every one of them in the decade, with Nebraska being the only other team in the Big 12 to match. For as young as the Tigers seemed last season, they return EIGHT to the team this season, five of which started in more than 20 matches last year. And, get used to the faces - there are zero seniors in 2008, meaning it will be a carbon-copy roster in 2009.

 "I look at us on paper and what we have returning, and that makes me feel positive about what we are able to do this year," said Head Coach Wayne Kreklow. "We've got a core group - we've got a returning setter, we've got a lot of returners from last year's team back."

Welcome Back, Klein ...
Not included in the list of "technical starters" from last season is junior OH Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa). Klein started last season on a roll, recording kill-dig double-doubles in five of her seven matches played, averaging a then-team high 4.44 kills and 2.85 digs per set, and tabulating a career-high 26 kills in the season opener at Mississippi. But, in the September 7 match versus Houston, Klein went down in the third set, tearing the ACL in her left knee - her season would be over. However, Klein has bounced back, gone through rehab, and is ready to pick up where she left off.

"Jules has had a great spring in coming back from her injury," said Kreklow. "She's worked really hard in rehab and has consistently been ahead of all of her rehab goals, so she's really put in the time and effort in the training room to come back. I thought by the end of the spring she was close to where she was in the fall, so she's made a lot of progress off the court. She's obviously very anxious to get back out on the floor again and she's done a good job working on the little things, like her passing game. She's always been a big power hitter, and she's worked hard on the things that are going to be necessary for her to get where she wants to go if she wants to be all-conference, be an All-American player, and help us get back to the tournament again."

Setting the Table Again ...
Now in her fourth year in the Mizzou system, S Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) has a lot to look forward to in her redshirt-junior campaign. Having already guided the Mizzou ship in the last two years as setter, Wang has seemingly found her stride improve with each match experience. Oddly enough, her experience last year had to be tweaked a notch because of the injury to Klein. On occasion, Kreklow would utilize the 6-2 system, making Wang's play in the front row strictly at the net as a right-side hitter. Although her overall assist-per-set average was down because of the variety of positions that she had to play, Wang still recorded two triple-doubles including a 10 kill, 49 assist, and 15 dig effort versus No. 25 Oklahoma on September 29.

"I thought she had a great second half of last season," said Kreklow. "She really came on during the month of November and into tournament time and did a real excellent job. What we've worked on during the spring has been her individual defense and blocking. I think she's got a good grasp of what is required of her as a setter and I look for that to improve."

 

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