Aug. 10, 2011

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Even with seven freshmen on this year's team, the Big 12 coaches recognized the talent on Mizzou's 2011 volleyball roster as the Tigers came in fifth in this year's Big 12 Preseason Poll, which was announced by the Big 12 Conference on Wednesday (Aug. 10). In all, the Tigers finished with 32 points in the polling to finish just ahead of sixth-place Baylor and just behind fourth-place Texas A&M. Texas was picked to win the league with seven first-place votes, totaling 63 points overall.

Mizzou is coming off of one of its most successful seasons in program history after advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2010. The task for head coach Wayne Kreklow in 2011 will be replacing five seniors from the 2010 roster, but a talented freshman class, which includes three Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 honorees, should help the Tigers overcome that in 2011. The Tigers, who won 22 matches and advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinal, were picked fifth in last year's preseason poll as well.

The news about the preseason Big 12 rankings comes one day after both Molly Kreklow (Delano, Minn.) and Brittney Brimmage (East St. Louis, Ill.) were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 teams. Mizzou opened its preseason training camp yesterday and the two-a-day practices will culminate next Friday (Aug. 19) with the playing of the annual Black and Gold Scrimmage at the Hearnes Center at 6:30 p.m. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MU_Volleyball.