Oct. 31, 2008

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COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri volleyball team (10-12, 4-8 Big 12) will look to avenge a streak of two-consecutive loses Saturday when they welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-18, 0-12 Big 12) to the Hearnes Center for a 6:30 p.m., start.

Scouting Texas Tech ...
The Texas Tech Red Raiders has lost ten matches in a row, the most recent of which was last Saturday's five-set loss to Colorado, who ironically turned around to upset No. 2 Nebraska Wednesday. The Red Raiders record currently sits at 5-18, and they are winless in 12 conference contests.

Texas Tech is led by freshman Amanda Dowdy, who leads the team with a .250 hitting percentage and 2.73 kills per set. Dowdy is second on the team with 0.39 blocks per set. Caroline Witt ranks first on the team with 7.14 assists per set.

As a team, Texas Tech ranks last in all major categories except for service aces, where the team ranks tenth with 0.91 per game. The Red Raiders are allowing other teams to hit a conference high .282.

Texas Tech dropped its earlier match against Mizzou in three sets on Sept. 24.

-- Mustafa Mohammad

Last Time We Met ... Mizzou wins 3-0 in Lubbock, September 24, 2008
The Missouri volleyball team (6-6, 1-2 Big 12) played its best match of the season-to-date on Wednesday with a quick 25-18, 26-24, 25-15 sweep of Texas Tech (5-9, 0-3 Big 12) in Lubbock, Texas. With a season-high .337 team hitting percentage, sophomore Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) led the Tigers with 11 kills, with only one error, adding a match-high six blocks. The Tigers won the first set convincingly, 25-18, with a heavy offensive strike, but had to come back from 20-13 down, with a 13-4 run, to win the second set 26-24.

Mizzou won the third set with a .536 team hitting total, committing only two errors thanks to a strong foundation of serve reception.

Sophomore Julianna Klein had nine kills, adding two service aces. Junior Megan Wilson scored on eight kills and two blocks. Freshman Brittany Brimmage came off the bench to score six kills on .500 hitting, adding two blocks.

Two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Caitlyn Vann had 17 digs and added an ace. Sophomore Lei Wang spread 33 assists while adding four blocks and five digs.

Texas Tech was led by Amanda Dowdy's 13 kills.

Last Time Out ... Kansas, Wednesday
The Missouri volleyball team (9-9, 3-5 Big 12) looked to end their three-match losing streak in taking down Kansas (8-9, 2-6 Big 12) Wednesday night in the first installment of the M&I Bank Border Showdown Series. Missouri did just that winning in four sets, 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, and 25-19. Sophomore Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) led all scorers with 19 kills.

The softer side of Juliana Klein (Keota, Iowa) came out in tonight's match, as a large number of her 63 attacks and her kills came off soft finesses shots. Klein's serving was still on point, however, and did not lack any of her typical power. Klein also avoided any service errors and tallied one ace.

Sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) again had a spectacular night, racking 26 digs to frustrate the Kansas frontline.

Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) and Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb) were on their defensive game going up together for a team-leading four blocks. Other team leaders were Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) with .438 hitting percent with a tied-career-high 16 kills and Hantouli with a .400 hitting percentage, scoring 12 kills on just 20 attempts. Overall the team outhit Kansas .274-.233.

Kansas was led by Karina Garlington's 17 kills.

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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