Oct. 21, 2008

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COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri volleyball team (9-10, 3-6 Big 12) will host Colorado (10-8, 4-5 Big 12) on Wednesday night in Hearnes Center to close the first-half of the Big 12 season. The Tigers also begin an important five-match stretch in which each opponent is below .500 in the league standings and with only one match separating the fifth through tenth spots in the standings, each match becomes an even larger part of the final picture.

A Critical Stretch Ahead …
The last two weeks of the Tiger schedule was tough, having to face three highly ranked teams in a short amount of time. But, now, the schedule sets up nicely for the Mizzou squad, and, if they take advantage that's presented to them in the next three weeks, they could once again climb the Big 12 standings in preparation for another NCAA Tournament run.

Sure, currently the Tigers are tied with Kansas at ninth in the league standings at 3-6, BUT, they are only one match behind fifth place and the cluster that includes Iowa State (a team Mizzou has defeated), Colorado (playing Wednesday), and Texas A&M (who has a rough, rough road in the next weeks). AND, the Tigers are just two matches behind Baylor for fourth. At this point, about any team among seven could make a serious push for the fourth and fifth spots in the league.

Math is currently on the Tigers side as well. Mizzou, statistically, has the least-bumpy road in the next five matches compared to the rest of the conference. The Tigers, in the next five, will play teams that currently have a below-.500 conference standing: Colorado (4-5), Iowa State (4-5), Kansas (3-6), Texas Tech (0-10) and Oklahoma (4-7). All of that is compared to someone like Texas A&M (4-5) who will play Nebraska (9-0), Kansas (3-6), Kansas State (7-2), Texas (8-1) and, again, Nebraska (9-0) for the hardest-of-roads in the next five matches.

Last Time We Met … Mizzou wins 3-0 in Columbia, November 24, 2007
The Missouri volleyball squad (17-12, 10-10 Big 12) topped off the regular season Saturday in defeating Colorado (6-22, 1-19 Big 12), 30-20, 30-23, 30-22, in front of 1,512 fans on Senior Day. In their regular-season finales, senior Na Yang marked a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 15 digs. Senior libero Tatum Ailes notched 11 digs on the day. Mizzou will find out its post-season fate Sunday.

But, it was a Tiger frosh that made the big headlines on the day. Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) tied her own school record which she set at Colorado on October 3 by accumulating 19 kills without an error, tallying a carrer-best .704 hitting percentage in using on 27 attacks. Wang also added a team-best nine blocks.

As a result of the Tiger win, Mizzou will place no worse than sixth in the Big 12 Conference, matching their standing from 2006. However, if Iowa State loses to Oklahoma later tonight, Mizzou will move into a tie for fifth with the Cyclones. Texas A&M can join the frey with a 10-10 record with a win over Baylor later this evening.

The Tigers as a team hit an efficient .353 as a team, hitting as high as .405 in the clinching-third game. Lei Wang scored a double-double in quarterbacking the team with 27 assists, adding 10 kills, seven digs and an ace.

Freshman Caitlyn Vann notched 12 digs and added an ace. Amanda Hantouli had nine kills on a .375 hitting strike.

Last Time Out … Texas, Friday
The Missouri volleyball team (9-10, 3-6 Big 12) had early leads, but had trouble finding rythem in attempts to match No. 3 Texas' (14-2, 8-1 Big 12) high-powered offence Friday night in Austin, dropping the match 13-25, 20-25, 14-25.

Mizzou was led by Julianna Klein's nine kills. Klein also led the team with 11 digs.

Texas was led by two-time NCAA high jump champion Destinee Hooker who notched 18 kills on the evening.

The Tigers scored the first two points of the first set and after a Catie Wilson kill, held a 4-2 lead. But, Texas would get their offense and tough serving going, rattling off a 13-3 run and forcing Mizzou's second timeout by 15-7. The Tiger struggles continued as the Longhorns went on to outhit Mizzou in the frame .407-.038 to take the set 25-13. The Tigers were also shut out in the block department and UT scored five service aces on MU in the stanza.

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.”

Now, in this 2008 campaign, Klein is leading the Tigers in kills and has had her share of digs, as she, for the first time in ANY point in her career, is playing the full-rotational circuit.

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.”

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.”

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 the set becomes quickly out of hand.

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.

Vann Earns Second Big 12 Honor … September 22
The Big 12 office announced on September 22 that Missouri sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) was named as the league's volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for week of September 14-20, marking the second time that she won the honor in a span of three weeks. Vann posted a Big 12-leading 7.25 digs per set in matches against Oklahoma (Sept. 17) and Baylor (Sept. 21).  She combined for 58 digs -- 33 at Oklahoma and 25 versus Baylor -- in the Tigers' two losses Vann was also perfect in 23 service reception attempts on the week, all in the match against the Bears. 

As Maneater reporter Ross Taylor put it, “Sophomore libero Caitlyn Vann was nothing short of fantastic, or 'Vann-tastic,' a term coined by several Missouri fans to yell following her serves. […]

“With Missouri trailing 20-19 in the third set [against Baylor], Vann changed the match's momentum with a ridiculously athletic play. Diving to her right, Vann dug a well-struck ball with one arm. The ball carried over the net and landed in between six frozen Baylor defenders, helping Missouri salvage the third set.”

Vann becomes only the third Tiger to earn conference player of the week honors twice in the same season. The last was Jessica Vander Kooi who earned the award twice in September 2006.

Vann Named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week … September 8
Missouri sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) was named as the Big 12's volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for the week of September 1-7. Vann, collecting her first league honor, helped the Tigers to a 2-1 record in the Spring Hill Suites at Arundel Mills Invitational in College Park, Md., on September 5-6, 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 that Friday and won a 59-tie, 27-lead-change thriller over St. John's, a 2007 NCAA regional semifinalist, on that Saturday. Kentucky, a 2007 NCAA-Tournament team, handed the Tigers its only loss in the tourney on that 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.

 

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