University of Missouri
Tulane
Mizzou Opens Season With 3-1 Win Over Tulane
8/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2008
PROVO, Utah - The Missouri volleyball team (1-0) opened its 2008 campaign on Friday in defeating the Tulane Green Wave (0-1) at the BYU Molten Classic, in Provo, Utah, 23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-14. Sophomore Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) led the Tigers with 15 kills and nine blocks as part of a 20-block night for the Tigers. After struggling in game one, the Tigers recovered to pull off the four-set win.
Wang scored 22.5 points on the night, leading all scorers, striking 15 kills, with only one error, on 34 attempts for a .412 percentage, adding an ace and two solo blocks as part of her nine-block compliment.
In her first match since September of last season after succumbing to an ACL injury, Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) tallied nine kills in adding two aces. Junior Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) also added nine kills with 11 digs and three blocks. In her first Tiger match, Brittney Brimmage (East St. Louis, Ill.) accounted for five blocks and seven blocks.
Sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) in her first contest as the Tiger libero, gathered 17 digs.
Freshman Pricilla Armendariz (Blue Springs, Mo.) garnered her first career start and was impressive in her Tiger debut, providing solid defense and passing while contributing many serving runs.
Tulane, picked to win Conference USA, was lead by its league Preseason Player of the Year Sara Radosevic with 16 kills.
The Tigers got the season off to a rip-roaring start, scoring on six of the first seven rallies off the serving of Megan Wilson and Weiwen Wang, but, it wasn't enough as Tulane used a 12-point swing to win the first set 25-23. The early run included aces by Wilson and Wang, the season's first kill by Wang, and the first double block of Wang and Klein. Tulane called a timeout, down, 6-1, and started to force Mizzou to make mistakes pulling back to tie at 11-11. The Green Wave then rattled off a 9-2 run to put the score to 21-14, completing the swing of the margin from -5 to +7. When all seemed lost for the Tigers at 24-17, the serving of frosh Priscilla Armendariz kept the Tiger hope alive, as Mizzou would score on the next six rallies, but a kill by Tulane on the seventh set point would end the season's first stanza.
The two teams traded scores in the beginning of the second set until Tulane pulled to an 11-8 lead. The serving of Klein, which included her second ace of the period, gave Mizzou three scores in a row as part of a 7-1 run that would give the Tigers their biggest lead of the game at 15-12. After the Green Wave called timeout and won two rallies, the Tigers would blow the set wide open, scoring off another extended serving run of eight points by Armendariz to put the lead to 23-14. A final kill by Weiwen Wang would give MU the game, 25-19. The mistakes that befuddled the Tigers in the first set were replaced by great timing and little errors in the second, upping their set-hitting average from .079 to .448. Weiwen Wang would lead the Tiger strike with seven kills in the frame.
Despite times of sputter, the Tigers pulled off the third set win 26-24 after being down as much as five at 18-13. The comeback would be spurred by a 9-4 Tiger run that tied the score at 22-22. Tulane would again have three set points, up 24-22 before the Tigers came back with a Weiwen Wang solo block, a double block with Brittney Brimmage, and a kill to take the lead at 25-24. A hitting error by Tulane would give Mizzou the set.
The Tigers went on an impressive 15-4 run to close the fourth set, as Mizzou went the entire frame with only one error. Weiwen Wang ended the match with an ace.
Tomorrow, the Tigers will conclude the tournament and face Utah State and No. 20 BYU at 10:00 a.m. (MT) and 7:30 p.m. (MT), respectively.
Tulane postponed their home opener scheduled for Monday due to Hurricane Gustav, opting to go directly to California from Provo, the site of a tournament next weekend at Cal Poly.
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