Nov. 27, 2009

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Match Info: Mizzou (18-13, 9-10 Big 12) vs. Texas A&M (17-10, 10-9 Big 12)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 28
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: College Station, Texas
Arena: Reed Arena
Gametracker: www.MUTigers.com
Streaming Radio: www.MUTigers.com
Series Information: Mizzou trails the all-time series with the Aggies, 21-9, and have dropped four of the last six meetings. Mizzou has not won in College Station since 2005 when it won a four-set match on September 16 that season.

What You Need to Know
• Mizzou will look to pull its Big 12 record back to .500 at 10-10 with a win on Saturday. A win would tie the Tigers for a sixth-place finish in the Big 12, its ninth time finishing in the top six in the last 10 seasons.

• Saturday's match at Texas A&M is the Tigers' regular season finale. Mizzou has won three of its last four regualr season finales, dating back to the 2005 season. However, its only loss in that span came at the hands of Texas A&M last season.

• Senior setter Lei Wang-Francisco became the most experienced player in program history after playing in her 448th set as a Tiger in the match against Baylor on Wednesday. She passed Shen Danru, who had 445 in her career at Mizzou. Saturday's match will also be Wang-Francisco's 123rd at Mizzou, third-most all-time.

• A win on Saturday would tie Mizzou for sixth place in the Big 12 at 10-10. That is important because the last three times that Mizzou finished the season in sixth-place - 2003, 2006 and 2007 - it has made the NCAA Tournament.

This Saturday
Mizzou will play in its final regular season match as it faces Texas A&M in College Station on Saturday (Nov. 28). The Tigers look to pull their Big 12 record back to .500 at 10-10 and look to finish in the league's top six for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons. Mizzou also looks to move its season win total to 19, which would be its most since posting 25 wins back in 2005. The Tigers also look to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive as a win would tie Mizzou with Texas A&M for sixth-place in the league. Plus, a win would give Mizzou a pair of head-to-head wins over the Aggies, increasing its NCAA Tournament chances.

Last Time Out
Mizzou dropped below .500 in league play after falling, 3-1, to Baylor at the Hearnes Center on Wednesday night (Nov. 25). Junior Paola Ampudia led Mizzou with 19 kills and 13 digs, earning her fifth career double-double. Libero Caitlyn Vann also pulled in a match-high 17 digs. The Tigers honored their two seniors - Lei Wang-Francisco and Amanda Hantouli - before the match. Wang-Francisco finished the match with 37 assists while Hantouli added three kills and two blocks.

Last Time Against Texas A&M
Mizzou and the Aggies met in one of the most exciting matches in the Big 12 this season at the Hearnes Center back on September 26. Mizzou rallied from down, 2-0, to win the match, 3-2. The comeback marked the first time that Mizzou won three straight sets after dropping the first two since doing so on Oct. 1, 2005 at Texas Tech. Mizzou set season-bests in attacks (222), digs (96) and blocks (18.0) in the match. Julianna Klein also set the school record in total attacks with 78 in the match. Mizzou's defense shined in the match as they held A&M - who came into the match hitting a league-best .301 - to just .111 hitting.

Are You Experienced?
Senior setter Lei Wang-Francisco played in her 448th set as a Tiger in Wednesday's match against Baylor. Those 448 sets are the most among any Tiger in program history as she passed Shen Danru after starting the second set. She will also play in her 123rd match as the Tiger setter on Saturday, moving her into a tie for third place all-time at Mizzou. She has spread 4,778 assists in her career and will likely finish her career ranked third all-time at Mizzou, despite playing in 25-point sets in each of the past two seasons. Senior Amanda Hantouli also played in her 118th match as a Tiger on Wednesday and will play in her 119th on Saturday, which will tie her for 10th all-time.

Vann Continues Her Climb
With her 17 digs on Wednesday, libero Caitlyn Vann moved her season total to 465, the fourth-most during a single season in Mizzou history. Vann is also just 31 digs shy of tying Shen Danru for the second-most career digs in school history.

Newcomer of the Week: Part IV
Junior outside hitter Paola Ampudia was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for the fourth time this season as announced by the Big 12 on Monday (Nov. 23). Ampudia led Mizzou with 32 kills (5.33 per set) and seven blocks (1.17 per set) last week. She also averaged 3.00 digs per set, finishing with nine in each match.

Win No. 200
Last Wednesday's win over Texas Tech marked Mizzou's 200th win since Wayne and Susan Kreklow took over the program in 2000. The win was Wayne Kreklow's 91st win since taking the helm in 2005 while Susan Kreklow won 109 matches from 2000-04. The duo has nearly a third of Mizzou's 618 volleyball wins.

16 Kills Shy of 400
Junior outside hitter Paola Ampudia leads Mizzou with 384 kills this season, 255 of which have come in the past 15 matches. Her 384 kills leaves her 16 kills shy of breaking the 400-kill plateau this season, which would be only the 11th time that a Mizzou played has finished a season with 400 kills. The last player to do so was Na Yang, who posted a single season Mizzou record with 522 kills back in 2007. Ampudia needs just nine kills to break last year's team-high kill total of 393, set by Julianna Klein. Only eight players in program history have finished the season with 400 kills, seven of which have come since 2000 when Wayne and Susan Kreklow took over the Mizzou volleyball program. The only player to do so not under the Kreklow's tutelage was Yvette Buhlig, who did so in 2002.

Climbing the Record Books
Junior middle hitter Catie Wilson hit .379 with 12 kills last week. That moved her career clip to .269, the ninth-best career mark in program history. Wilson has more than doubled her first two season's worth of production as she has 220 kills, 25 more than her first two seasons combined. Wilson is also hitting .324 on the season, the seventh-best clip in the Big 12. Through her first two seasons at Mizzou, Wilson committed 79 errors, but this season she has only 54 errors on 22 less attacks, which is a large reason why Wilson has been able to climb the record books.

Here Comes the Ferri
Freshman defensive specialist Marissa Ferri saw her most playing time in a single match this season on Wednesday against Baylor. The frosh pulled in a career-best two digs in the match and accounted for 10 service receptions while playing in three of four sets in the match. It was the first time that Ferri has seen the floor since the Tigers' sweep of UMKC on September 23. She pulled in a dig in the match as well.

Nearly Perfect at Hearnes
Mizzou finished 2009 with a record of 11-4 inside the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center this season, making it one of the toughest places for opponents to play this season. Three of Mizzou's four home losses came to teams that were ranked and are still ranked in the AVCA/Bison Top 10. The home record is Mizzou's best since opening the 2001 season 11-1.

The Tiger Back Row Comes Alive
After corralling only 67 digs in back-to-back matches with Nebraska and Texas three weeks ago, the Tiger back row has shined over its last four matches, pulling in 244, good enough for 61 per match. Mizzou corralled 66 digs - the fifth-best three-set mark in the Big 12 this season - against Oklahoma and followed that with 75 more at Colorado. Mizzou then pulled in 45 at Texas Tech and 58 against Iowa State, both in three-set matches. Mizzou added 59 digs to its ledger on Wednesday, led by 17 from libero Caitlyn Vann and 13 in a double-double effort from Paola Ampudia.

Cracking the Top 20
The 2,824 fans that packed into the Hearnes Center for last Saturday's match with No. 8 Iowa State helped bump Mizzou's season averaged to 1,823 fans per match. That averages ranks Mizzou No. 19 in the country in national attendance. If the Tigers get another large crowd on Wednesday, they will likely stay ranked in the nation's top 20.

Cracking the Top Six?
Mizzou currently ranks one spot behind sixth-place in the Big 12 behind Texas A&M, a team that they beat early in the season at the Hearnes Center. The top six is a crucial spot for NCAA Tournament consideration as Mizzou has made the tournament in each of the three seasons that it has finished sixth in the Big 12. The last time Mizzou finished sixth was in 2007, the last year that the team went to the dance. That year, Mizzou nearly shocked one of the nation's top teams in Washington. In fact, the Tigers took Washington to five sets in the match before falling, 11-15 in the fifth. The other two years that Mizzou finished sixth in the league were 2003 and 2006. Its best run in those three years came in 2006 when it fell one set shy of the Sweet 16.

Double-Double Trouble
A pair of Tigers - Lei Wang-Francisco and Paola Ampudia - posted double-doubles in last Saturday's win at Colorado, marking the third time this season that that has happened. The most recent occasion was at Kansas on Oct. 24 when the same two student-athletes did so. The only other time that it has happened this season was in Mizzou's five-set thriller with Texas A&M on Sept. 26. Wang-Francisco spread 45 assists and pulled in 12 digs in the CU match while Ampudia posted 10 kills and a career-best 15 digs.

Scouting the Aggies
Texas A&M comes into the match at 10-9 in league play and 17-10 overall this season. Led by a plethora of seniors that includes Sarah Ammerman and Jennifer Banse, who both rank in the league's top 10 in kills per set, Texas A&M comes in as the Big 12's top offensive team, averaging a league-best 14.90 kills per set. The Aggies have also hit .244 this season, which ranks third in the Big 12.

The Aggies back row has also been solid all season as it has pulled in 16.98 digs per frame, which is third-best in the league. The Aggies woes have come from their block as they rank 10th in the Big 12 with just 1.72 per set.

The Aggies will at times play six seniors on the floor, making Saturday's match that much more difficult for the Tigers as it is senior night at Reed Arena. Mizzou trails the all-time series with the Aggies, 21-9, and have dropped four of the last six meetings. Mizzou has not won in College Station since 2005 when it won a four-set match on September 16 that season.

Success in the Classroom
The Mizzou volleyball team was recognized for its work in the classroom as six members of the team were honored as Academic All-Big 12 selections, announced by the Big 12 Office on Tuesday (Nov. 17). Five student-athletes from the Mizzou volleyball team were selected to the first team while one landed on the second team. The five first-team Academic All-Big 12 selections are the most for the Tigers since the 2005 season when they also had five members selected to the first-team.

The five first-team honorees are Priscilla Armendariz (Blue Springs, Mo.), Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa), Annie Lopez (St. Louis, Mo.), Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) and Lei Wang-Francisco (Shanghai, China). Wang-Francisco becomes a four-time honoree as she has earned first-team laurels in each season since 2006 as she is in her fifth year with the program. Wang and Klein are also repeating performers as both landed on the first team in 2008 as well. Armendariz and Lopez were both named to the first team for the first time in their careers. Lopez led all Tigers this season with a 3.81 grade-point-average as an undeclared arts and science major. Junior Catie Wilson (Omaha, Neb.) was named to the second team as she just missed the 3.20 GPA cut-off with a 3.19 cumulative mark in health science. The second-team award is the first of Wilson's career.

The `Pao-er' of Paola
With 255 kills in her last 15 matches (17.00 per match), no one in the Big 12 has been more important to their team than the Tigers' Paola Ampudia. Her 255 kills in that span are 146 more than any Tiger on the roster and nine more than the next closest attacker in the Big 12, Destinee Hooker of Texas. Ampudia has hit the 20-kill plateau in four of her last 11 matches - including a school-record 35 at Kansas - and has posted five double-doubles in that span as well. Ampudia currently holds the Big 12 three-set high with 22 kills at Nebraska and the Big 12 four-set high with 35 kills at Kansas. The 35 kills against the Jayhawks are also a Big 12 four-set record.

Trailing only Hooker
Paola Ampudia has been creeping into Big 12 Player of the Year discussions as of late as she now ranks second in the league in points per set (5.01) and in kills per set (4.49), trailing only Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Destinee Hooker of Texas in both categories.

It's That Time of Year...
...to start looking at the Tigers' NCAA Tournament résumé. Last Wednesday's win over Oklahoma will go a long way to helping Mizzou's tournament chances as it marks a win over a team that held a No. 34 ranking in the RPI ranks last week. Oklahoma also ranked just outside the AVCA/Bison Top 25 at No. 26, making that win one of the Tigers' best of the season. Also, with the selection committee placing an increased emphasis on what teams did in the non-conference part of the schedule, Mizzou should feel pretty good as it racked up a 9-3 mark against non-Big 12 opponents, including one win over an RPI top-100 team and a 4-1 mark away from home.

Staying on the RPI topic, Mizzou has earned seven wins over RPI top 100 teams this season and has taken sets from three others that rank in the top 40. Four of its seven wins over RPI top 100 teams have come against programs that rank No. 56 or higher. Finally, the Tigers have played 14 matches against teams that are currently ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA/Bison Top 25 poll or were ranked at the time that they played. Mizzou plays two teams ranked in the RPI top 40 to close out its season as it has the potential to rack up several quality wins as the season winds down.

No `Hard-Knock Life' for this Annie
Sophomore defensive specialist Annie Lopez corralled 10 digs in Mizzou's win over OU, two shy of her season-best, and added nine more at Colorado. Over her last 11 matches, Lopez ranks third on the team with 85 digs, trailing only libero Caitlyn Vann and Paola Ampudia. Lopez has hit double-digits in digs in three of those matches, including hitting her season-best 12 on two separate occasions.

Ace in the Hole
The Tigers currently rank first in the Big 12 with 1.22 service aces per set this season. Mizzou's 131 total aces leads the Big 12, 10 more than the second-place team. Both Caitlyn Vann (fourth, 0.29 per set) and Julianna Klein (sixth, 0.26 per set) rank amongst the Big 12's top 10 this season. Klein has posted the most service aces in a match by a Big 12 player with her eight against Colorado, while Vann's six aces against UMKC comes in ranked second overall. Mizzou posted a season-best 11 aces in its wins over Colorado and UMKC. That mark is tops in a Big 12 match this season.

52 Kills
Mizzou posted a then three-set season-high 52 kills in its win over K-State (Oct. 28). That mark is even more impressive when considering that Mizzou was just three shy of a season-low in attack errors in the match as they hit .333. Eight different Tigers posted a kill in the match as four Tigers posted at least seven. In addition, Mizzou limited K-State to just 38 kills in the match.

Monkey off the Back?
The Tigers' win over Kansas (Oct. 24) marked Mizzou's first Big 12 road win of the 2009 season as the Tigers went 0-5 in the first half of Big 12 play on the road. Despite coming close at Oklahoma and at Kansas State, Mizzou had not won a true road match since September 5, when it knocked off Utah Valley. Mizzou won only two Big 12 matches on the road last season. Mizzou has one road contest left this season and it is the final match of the regular season at Texas A&M.

Performance of a Lifetime?
The performance by Paola Ampudia at Kansas on Oct. 24 will likely go down as one of the best - if not the best - single-match effort in program history. Ampudia's 35 kills bested Yvette Buhlig's 20-year school record of 34 kills, set on September 5, 1989. The 35 kills are a Big 12 four-set record and she joins Buhlig as one of only two Tigers to post 30 or more kills in a four-set match. Her 78 attacks in the match are also a school-record - tying the mark set by Julianna Klein earlier this season in a five-set win over Texas A&M - and are the most-ever in a four-set match at Mizzou. Ampudia also pulled in 11 digs in the match, her second-best total of the season, to earn her third career double-double. Her .282 clip in the match is also her fourth-best of the season.

Weekly Honors for Paola
For her efforts three that week, Ampudia was named Big 12 Player of the Week, her fourth Big 12 weekly honor of the season, the most by any Tiger in a single season. The Player of the Week laurel is the first of her career while she has taken home Big 12 Rookie of the Week three times. She is the only player in the history of the Big 12 to take home Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors in the same season. Ampudia averaged 7.29 kills per set that week while hitting .274 with 15 digs.

Nice Night for Lei
Senior setter Lei Wang-Francisco passed out a season-high and Big 12 four-set high 57 assists in Mizzou's win over Kansas. This season, Wang-Francisco has 112 assists against KU as she passed out her previous season-best 55 against KU back in September. The Tiger setter also pulled in 10 digs at Kansas for her team-leading sixth double-double this season.

Wilson Goes Wild
Catie Wilson had one of her finest weeks as a Tiger against Colorado and Texas Tech as she hit .750 with 19 kills, four service aces and three blocks. Wilson hit .733 - the ninth-best clip in program history when totaling more than 10 kills - with 12 kills on 15 attacks. Her .733 clip is the second-best mark by any player in the Big 12 in a single match this season. She followed that with seven kills at clip of .778 and four aces in Mizzou's win over Texas Tech.

Relentless Attack
With 49 attacks at Kansas State earlier this season, junior outside hitter Julianna Klein passed Gwen Mullens for eighth-place on the Tigers' career attack list. Klein now has 2,951 total attacks at Mizzou, the most among active Tigers. She also is the active leader in total service aces (73) and kills (969).

Career Night for Klein
Julianna Klein posted the 1,000th point of her career in the Tigers' win over Texas A&M on her final kill of the match. Klein has the most points among active Tigers and with 118 more, she will crack the all-time top 10 career point list at Mizzou. Klein also posted a school-record 78 total attacks in that match.

Holding `em In Check
The Tigers had their best defensive match of the season against Texas A&M. The Aggies came into the match leading the Big 12 in hitting at .301 and the Tigers - due in large part to season-highs in total blocks (18.0) and digs (96) - limited A&M to .111 hitting, its worst output of the season at that point. Mizzou is 12-0 this season when hitting at a better percentage than its opponents. Mizzou held UMKC and Texas A&M to a combined .055 hitting percentage that week, highlighted by a -.065 clip by the `Roos.

Quite a Comeback
In Mizzou's match against Texas A&M, Mizzou rallied from down 2-0 to top the Aggies, 3-2, in its only five-set match of 2009. The win marked the first time since Oct. 1, 2005, that the Tigers have come back from a 2-0 deficit in a five-set match. The Tigers also limited Texas A&M to a then season-low .111 hitting. A&M entered the match hitting a Big 12-best .301.

Downright Defensive
In the Tigers' match with UMKC, they limited the `Roos to only 39 total points, their best mark of the season, and held the `Roos to -.065 hitting, their best mark since holding Alabama State to -.250 hitting on Aug. 25, 2006.

Return to Sender
In its win over Texas A&M, Mizzou posted a season-high 18.0 total blocks, their best since sending back 14.5 against Texas State in the 2009 opener. Senior setter Lei Wang-Francisco led the Tigers with a season-best six total blocks in the match while Catie Wilson, Weiwen Wang and Rosa Medrano each accounted for five in match.

Rookie of the Week Part Three
Junior Paola Ampudia was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week for the second-consecutive week on September 21, 2009. Ampudia is the first Tiger ever to take home back-to-back Big 12 weekly honors. She became the first-ever Tiger to take home four Big 12 weekly laurels after being named Player of the Week three weeks ago.

A Full-Team Effort
In Mizzou's win over UMKC, every student-athlete on the Tigers' 14-player roster saw action. That was the first time this season that that has happened as two Tigers - Marissa Ferri and Lindsey Petrick - saw their first action in a regular season match this year. Ferri posted her first career dig in the third frame while Petrick entered late in the set and earned her first career solo block and registered three total attacks.

Dig `em Pip!
Sophomore Priscilla Armendariz was a silver lining in the Tigers' loss at Kansas State earlier this season. Armendariz pulled in 24 digs - a season-best and the Tigers' second-best individual performance - in the loss. The 24 total digs are also a personal-best for Armendariz who currently ranks second on the team with 214 digs.

Big Night for Brit
Brittney Brimmage tallied 13 kills with only one error on 20 swings in the Tigers' four-set loss to No. 17 Utah. That stat line gave Brimmage a .600 hitting percentage in the match. The .600 clip is a career-best for Brimmage as she becomes one of only 27 athletes in school history to post a .600 hitting percentage with more than 10 kills.

The 700-Club
Team Kreklow (Wayne and Susan together) earned its 700th career win after topping UMKC. The 700 combined wins dates back to their time as the head coaching tandem at Columbia College, where they mentored both the men's and women's programs. The pair has won 200 matches in their 10 seasons at Mizzou.

Mr. 400
With the Tigers' win over Fairfield earlier this season, head coach Wayne Kreklow earned his 400th victory as a head coach. Dating back to his time at Columbia College, where he coached both the men's and women's teams, Kreklow has compiled a 411-114 record as a head coach, including a 358-90 mark coaching women's volleyball. 91 of his 358 wins in women's volleyball have come during his time at Mizzou.

All-Access Video and Radio
Be sure to follow the Tiger volleyball program all season long on www.mutigers.com. The matches will be streamed live on Mizzou All-Access. Also, all Big 12 road matches can be heard live on www.mutigers.com.

Next up
Mizzou will await its NCAA Tournament fate as the NCAA Selection Show will air on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CT) on ESPN News. Mizzou will look to earn its ninth NCAA Tournament selection in the last 10 seasons.