Tigers Look to Rebound at Arkansas

<i>Molly Kreklow leads the SEC in double-doubles with 14 overall and nine in SEC play.</i>

VolleyballOctober 25, 2012

Tigers Look to Rebound at Arkansas

Oct. 26, 2012

Mizzou Volleyball (15-7, 7-5 SEC) at Arkansas (16-6, 7-4 SEC)
Date: Oct. 28
Time: 1:30 pm (CT)
Location: Fayetteville, Ark.
Live Stream: MizzouNetwork.com
Twitter Updates: @MU_Volleyball
Notes: Match Notes - at Arkansas

What's Inside? - A Quick Look at the Notes
• The Tigers will head to Arkansas for a match against the Razorbacks at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Mizzou, which lost at Georgia Wednesday, is 6-0 following a loss this season and 8-0 dating back to late 2011.
• In fact, Mizzou has not lost back-to-back matches since Nov. 19, 2011, with losses to Texas A&M and Texas.
• Sunday's match concludes a four-match road trip and a month of just one home match for the Tigers.
• The Tigers are 3-3 this month despite playing five of six on the road.
• Mizzou has the sixth-fewest attack errors in the nation and the third-fewest among teams with 22 matches.
• Mizzou averages an SEC-best 3.04 blocks/set in SEC matches and has at least 10 blocks in 11 of 14 matches.
• The Tigers have posted at least 10 blocks in 11 of 21 matches and at least nine in 14 matches.
• Whitney Little is 14th nationally in bps (1.51) and fifth in solo blocks (21).
• Little leads the SEC in blocks per set (1.51) in all matches and in SEC matches (1.76).
• Little has five 10-block matches this season. The five 10-block matches is a Mizzou career and season record.
• Little has a pair of block-kill double-doubles in 2012. Before that, the last block-kill double-double was in `07.
• Lisa Henning cracked the Mizzou all-time top 10 on the career kills list as she is now eighth with 1,152 kills.
• She is the second-fastest Tiger to ever reach 1,000 kills, trailing on Shen Danru.
• Henning is No. 4 on the active kill leaders list in the SEC w/ 1,152. She is the top junior on the list.
• Henning also leads the SEC in kills per set and points per set in league matches and all matches this season.
• Setter Molly Kreklow is first in the SEC with 14 double-doubles this season.
• In her three years as a Tiger setter, Kreklow has guided the team to a .240 attack clip and 13.40 kills per set.
• The team's .240 clip through her two-plus seasons is the second-best career mark for four-year Tiger setters.
• To put it into perspective, Kreklow has assisted on 82.5-percent of Mizzou's kills since 2010.
• Mizzou is holding teams to just .192 hitting this year. Mizzou has not held a team to below .200 in a season since 2005.
• Sarah Meister has gone over 20 digs in six of 12 matches since switching to libero.
• Meister is averaging 4.59 digs per set since switching to libero, a mark that ranks her fourth in the SEC.
• Before moving to libero, Meister was averaging just 1.85 digs per set and had just a .941 serve receive mark.

Tigers Look to Rebound at Arkansas
After suffering a 3-0 setback at Georgia on Wednesday evening, the Mizzou volleyball team will be back in action this Sunday as it takes on Arkansas in Fayetteville at 1:30 p.m., the last of a four-match road-trip. The match also ends an October in which the Tigers played just one match at home. Following the Tigers' match at Arkansas, they will close their season with six of their final eight matches at home.

Ability to Rebound
An impressive trend is developing for the Mizzou volleyball team this season as they have showed a remarkable ability to rebound from a loss. In fact, Mizzou is 6-0 following a loss this season and it is 8-0 dating back to the last two weeks of play during the 2011 season. Of course, with Mizzou's loss to Georgia on Wednesday, the perfect 6-0 mark will be put on the line Sunday when the Tigers play at Arkansas.

Henning On Fire in October
Junior All-American Lisa Henning has put together quite the October this year, averaging 5.21 kills per set, 5.83 points per, 0.88 blocks per set and 3.88 digs per set. She has also posted five double-doubles in six matches and has gone over 20 kills in four of six matches this month, including a career-best 27 at Auburn. In her career, Henning is averaging 4.73 kills per set on .241 hitting, 3.19 digs per set, 35 blocks and 16 aces in October.

Kreklow-Henning are a Double-Double Double-Duo
So far this season, Mizzou as a team has posted 27 double-doubles as a team, but the junior duo of Molly Kreklow and Lisa Henning has accounted for 23 of those 27. In fact, Kreklow ranks first in the SEC with 14 double-doubles while Henning has eight of her nine double-doubles in SEC play, ranking her second in the SEC in league matches. Both Kreklow and Henning have posted double-doubles in the last six matches and the 23 combined double-doubles ranks first among all SEC duos this season (UT's Robinson-Pollmiller, 23; Arkansas' Santos-Norton, 22).

Last Time Out
Mizzou was swept at Georgia on Wednesday (-18, -23, -13), marking the Tigers' second loss in four matches. It was also the first time that Mizzou has been swept since a tightly-contested at Florida on Sept. 21 and marked just the third time this season that Mizzou has been swept in a match. The Tigers were led by All-American Lisa Henning who tallied a match-high 15 kills on 45 swings in the match while middle hitter Whitney Little was also very good, posting seven kills on .278 hitting to go along with eight blocks (one solo, seven assists). Little posted 18 blocks in two matches against Georgia this season. After allowing Georgia to hit just .030 at home earlier this season, the Bulldogs hit .311 on Wednesday.

She's Still Whitney From the Block
After having a sub-par effort by her standards blocking against both Mississippi State and Ole Miss, sophomore middle Whitney Little has bounced back in a big way. In fact, she had seven blocks in the Tigers' five-set win at Auburn and came back with eight in just three sets at Georgia on Wednesday. Little continues to lead the SEC with a 1.51 blocks per set average this season.

Cutting Down the Errors
Heading into Sunday's match at Arkansas, Mizzou ranks second in the SEC in hitting at .262 and a key reason for that mark is the Tigers' ability to cut down on attack errors. In fact, Mizzou has the sixth-fewest attack errors in the country so far this season and is averaging just 3.89 errors per set. In fact, four of the five teams that rank ahead of the Tigers have played two fewer matches than Mizzou's 21. BYU is the only team in the nation to play more than 19 matches and have fewer errors than the Tigers as they have just 309 attack errors in 22 matches. Only Washington, BYU and Nebraska have fewer attack errors per set than the Tigers this season. Below is a look at the standings.

Henning Joins Elite Company
Junior All-American Lisa Henning has been rewriting the Mizzou record books since her freshman season and she just joined elite company last weekend as she cracked the all-time Mizzou top 10 in career kills with 1,152 in her two-plus seasons at Mizzou. She now ranks eighth all-time and needs just four kills to tie Nicole Wilson (2003-06) with 1,156 and she has a realistic shot of ranking as high as seventh on the list by season's end. That will put her within striking distance of the all-time record holder, Shen Danru (1,658 kills from 2002-05). Below are a few notables on Henning.

Shen Danru

Molly Kreklow

Block This Way
Looking at the season stats for the Tigers, the one thing that stands out is the Tigers' blocking numbers. In fact, Mizzou leads the SEC with its 2.77 blocks per set average while its 218.0 total blocks leads the SEC as well. The 2.77 blocks per set clip ranks the Tigers 18th nationally. The numbers are even better in SEC play as the Tigers are averaging 3.04 blocks per set with a league-leading 140.0 total blocks. The next-best total by an SEC team in league matches is 112 by LSU.

More on the Block
The Tigers have had at least 10 blocks in eight of 10 matches and all but three of their 12 SEC matches. The Tigers' current 2.77 blocks per set would rank second all-time at Mizzou, trailing only the 2000 team. That would be a Mizzou rally-scoring record and a 25-point set era record as well.

Little Playing Big
Another developing trend for the Tigers this season is the play of sophomore middle hitter Whitney Little, especially over the last 14 matches as she has seemed to rewrite the record book every time she played in that span. Little has five 10-block matches in that span, resetting the Mizzou record for 10-block matches in a career. The previous record had been four by former Tiger All-American Christi Myers - keep in mind, Little broke that career mark in a span of just nine matches after posting 11 blocks at Tennessee on Oct. 5. Below are a few notables on Little.

Official RPI Rankings Released
The NCAA released its official RPI rankings on last Monday and the Tigers moved up one spot this week to No. 48 in the rankings as they are one of seven SEC teams ranked in the RPI top 51. That bodes well for the league moving forward as it will look to secure multiple NCAA Tournament berths. Last year, the Tigers were an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament with an RPI of 32. Below are a look at the SEC rankings in the NCAA RPI.

Tigers Third in SEC, 21st Nationally in Hitting
Heading into the weekend, Mizzou ranks among the national elite in team hitting percentage at .262, ranking it second in the SEC and 21st nationally. If the season ended today, the .262 clip would be the fourth-best attack clip in program history, trailing only the 2005 team (.299), the 2000 team (.289) and the 2002 team (.280).

Kreklow Improves Hitting
Heading into the season, junior setter Molly Kreklow was more known for her ability to run an offense, but it has been her offensive production that has caught the eye of many this season. In addition to guiding the team to a .262 attack percentage, Kreklow also proved to be a formidable attacker, posting 89 kills on just 179 attacks with just 18 errors, good for a .397 clip. Kreklow entered the season as a .179 career attacker, so her .397 clip is a vast improvement.

Tigers Limiting Opponent Hitting This Season
So far this season, a trend is developing that is different from Tiger teams over the last several seasons. Mizzou is holding its opponents to just a .192 attack percentage. Mizzou has limited its opponents to under .200 hitting in 13 of 22 matches, winning 12 of those. The Tigers have not held their opponents under .200 hitting in a season since 2005. To back up how important this is to Mizzou's success, it is 10-1 when holding its opponents to under .200 while it is 5-6 when teams hit better than .200.

Scouting Arkansas
At 16-6 overall and 7-4 in the SEC, Arkansas is in a tight race with Texas A&M for the SEC West title and is one of the league's top RPI teams, checking in at No. 25 overall. Arkansas is hitting .251 as a team while holding its opponents to .176 hitting, thanks in large part to a very good block and good back row play. Offensively, the Razorbacks are led by Jasmine Norton, who is currently the SEC's active career kills leader. She has 289 kills this season, averaging 3.66 per set but it hitting just .195. Roslandy Acosta is hitting .276 while averaging 3.14 kills per set while the middle hitting duo of Amanda Anderson and Janeliss Torres-Lopez are both hitting .344 or better with nearly 2.00 kills per set. Torress-Lopez also leads the team in blocks with 85 this season, averaging 1.08 per set. The back row is anchored by libero Emily Helm, who is averaging 3.89 digs per set. Norton has also been very good in the back row for the Razorbacks as she averaged 3.14 digs per set from the OH position.

Series Information
The Tigers and Razorbacks have met five times in history with Mizzou winning three of the five matches. The home team has won each of the five matches in history, dating back to 1995. The last meeting between the two teams came in 2005 when the Tigers defeated the Hogs, 3-0, in the NCAA Tournament in Columbia, Mo. Of course, current Tiger assistant coach Lindsey Hunter was the setter for Mizzou that season. In fact, the Tigers have won the last three meetings with Arkansas. The Razorbacks last win in the series came in 1999, a 3-1 win in Fayetteville. The Tigers have never won at Arkansas.

A Libero Change
Before the match with No. 17 Tennessee on Sept. 12, Mizzou head coach Wayne Kreklow made a lineup change as he moved sophomore Sarah Meister to the starting libero position, replacing Jade Hayes. The move came after Hayes had pulled in double-digit digs in nine of the Tigers' first 10 matches. But Meister has made an immediate impact since throwing on the opposite-colored jersey, averaging 4.59 digs per set, third-best in the SEC. Before the change, Meister was averaging just 1.85 digs per set and a .941 serve receive mark. She has posted at least 20 digs in six of her 12 matches as libero, including a career-best 27 at LSU and 23 in her first-ever start at libero against No. 17 Tennessee. In matches at Tennessee and Alabama two weeks ago, Meister pulled in 48 digs (24 at both Tennessee and Alabama) and committed just two reception errors on 60 chances, good for a team-best 9.67 reception percentage. Last weekend, she had 43 digs (4.22 per set) and boasted a .966 serve receive percentage on a team-high 59 chances

Historic First Two Seasons for Kreklow
Junior setter Molly Kreklow has accomplished a lot in her short career at Mizzou and the numbers show it. In fact, Kreklow has quarterbacked the Tigers to a 43-24 record (.657) over the past two seasons and a pair of NCAA Tournament wins (2-2 overall record, including a Sweet 16 appearance). The 43 wins for the Tigers over the last two seasons are the most for a Tiger setter since All-American and current assistant coach Lindsey Hunter won 45 matches from 2002-03. Kreklow already has more NCAA Tournament wins than Hunter did through her first two seasons. Also, Kreklow set the Tigers to a .232 attack percentage in her first two seasons, the Tigers' best two-year attack percentage since 2004-05, when Hunter led the team to a .292 clip over those two seasons. Kreklow now has 58 wins in her two-plus seasons.

Ms. 3,000
The Tigers have certainly had their fair share of great setters under the direction of Wayne and Susan Kreklow, but Molly Kreklow may be the best. At Morehead State, Kreklow passed the 3,000-assist mark in her career, making her just the fifth Tiger to do so. It is worth noting that if Kreklow played in 30-point sets like her predecessors, she would be on pace to break Lindsey Hunter's school record for career assists (6,097) by 471. She has assisted on nearly 83-percent of the Tigers' kills since joining the team for the 2010 season.

A Look at Kreklow Historically
Through her two-plus seasons at Mizzou, Molly Kreklow has guided the team to a .240 attack percentage and 13.40 kills per set. If you average out the rest of the year at the current pace the Tigers are attacking at right now, Kreklow will have guided Mizzou to a .252 attack percentage in her three seasons. That is the second-best mark for any three-year Tiger setter in program history, trailing only Lindsey Hunter, who guided Mizzou to a .263 attack clip in her first three seasons at Mizzou (2002-04). She has assisted on nearly 83-percent of the Tigers' kills in her two-plus seasons.

Henning Top Junior in SEC
Looking deeper into Lisa Henning's numbers so far, her 1,152 career kills are fourth among active SEC players and tops among SEC juniors, just ahead of Tennessee's Kelsy Robinson. The three players ranked ahead of Henning on the list are all seniors as Arkansas' Jasmine Norton leads all active SEC players in kills. Remember, Henning was the first ever Tiger to leads the Big 12 in kills per set and points per set a season ago and broke the school record with 523 kills.

More on the Tiger Junior Class
With 43 wins through their first two seasons, the Mizzou junior class (Kreklow, Henning) has the chance to become the winningest class in program history with almost two full seasons remaining. If you discount the years from 1974-1981 when a volleyball season featured close to 60 matches (as opposed to today's schedule which features closer to 35 matches per season), the Tiger junior class has a chance to become the winningest four-year class during the modern scheduling era in program history. With a win last week, the class now has 58 wins in two-plus seasons. Below is a look at the winningest four-year stretches in program history (modern scheduling era).

Winningest Four-Year Stretches

Tigers Picked Fourth in SEC East
The Tigers, in the their first SEC Preseason Poll, were picked to finish fourth in the Eastern Division by the league's coaches. The loaded SEC East features league favorite Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida, all of which rank ahead of Mizzou. The Gators narrowly edged the Tigers in the poll for third place. The Tigers received 37 votes in the poll while Tennessee (12), UK (30) and Florida (35) edged the Tigers.

Kreklow, Henning Land on All-SEC Preseason Team
The Mizzou volleyball program may be new to the Southeastern Conference, but it has already earned the respect of its peers as the Tigers placed two student-athletes on the Preseason All-SEC Team, which was released on Aug. 7. Juniors Lisa Henning and Molly Kreklow were named to the nine-person All-SEC Preseason Team. Mizzou joined Kentucky and league-favorite Tennessee as the only teams to place two players on the All-SEC Preseason Team. Henning is fifth among active SEC players with 789 kills in her career.

Kreklows Participate in USA Volleyball A-2 Program Over the Summer
Junior Molly Kreklow and Mizzou head coach Wayne Kreklow spent 10 days during the summer in Columbus, Ohio, for the USA Volleyball A-2 Program - Molly as a player and Wayne as a coach, albeit of different teams. Wayne coached the Blue Team to a perfect 3-0 record in pool play, but his team lost a semifinal matchup, dropping it to the third-place match, which it won, 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-11) over Molly's Red Team.

Little, O'Brien Play Together in Italy, Croatia
Sophomores Whitney Little and Katie O'Brien played with the USA Development/Bring-It Promotions tour in Italy and Croatia this summer. The Tiger duo played with some of the nation's most talented underclassmen over the week-long tour and their team played in the European Global Challenge. It marks the third straight season that Mizzou has had a student-athlete play in the program. Former Tiger Julianna Klein played in Brazil prior to the 2010 season while current Tiger junior Lisa Henning played in China prior to the 2011 season.

An Experienced Youthful Group
It is a well known fact that Mizzou was the youngest team (% of underclassmen) to qualify for the NCAA Tournament last season, but heading into 2012, the Tigers boast a roster that is comprised of 10 underclassmen and two juniors, making them the youngest team in the SEC. In fact, Mizzou's roster is 83-percent underclassmen and it is the only SEC roster that does not have a senior. Mississippi State is the next-youngest team in the league as it is comprised of 76.9-percent underclassmen. What is impressive about the Tigers' youth is that they are a very experienced group as well as seven of the 10 underclassmen are sophomores and helped guide Mizzou to the NCAA Tournament as freshmen last year.

Big Crowds at Home
So far this season, the Hearnes Center has proved to once again be one of the toughest places to play in the country as Mizzou is 7-2 inside the confines of their home arena. In fact, Mizzou is 1-1 against top-25 teams as well with its only losses coming to No. 23 Michigan and Texas A&M, an RPI top-30 team. So far, Mizzou is averaging 2,199 fans per match this season, ranking it 15th in the country.

Tigers On Television
The Mizzou volleyball program will be televised nationally four times, including a program-high three times on ESPNU this season. In all, the Tigers have six scheduled televised matches that will be seen throughout the state of Missouri this season. Below are the television dates for the Tigers.

Volleyball on the Air
If you can't be at the Tigers' matches this season, you can still catch all of the action at MUTigers.com as all of the matches will be streamed with audio and home matches will have video and audio. Jim Grundy will be in his second year as the team's play-by-play announcer. Brittney Brimmage will provide analysis. Visit MUTigers.tv for broadcasts.

Up Next
Mizzou's stretch of six road matches in a span of seven will come to an end as it returns home for four straight home matches, beginning Nov. 2 with South Carolina at the Hearnes Center. That match is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start on the Mizzou Sports Network. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MU_Volleyball.

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Tigers Look to Rebound at Arkansas