Nov. 27, 2013
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 4 Mizzou volleyball team became the first-ever SEC volleyball team to post an undefeated regular season after sweeping Arkansas, 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 29-27), on Wednesday night (Nov. 27) at the Hearnes Center. The win clinches a 34-0 regular season record and a perfect 18-0 mark in SEC play. In what may be an even more impressive accomplishment, Mizzou won 102 of 110 sets played during the year and was never pushed to a fifth set. In fact, Mizzou has swept its last five matches and swept 26 of 34 matches this season. Wednesday's win was played in front of the second-largest crowd in program history as 7,437 fans watched the Tigers clinch the perfect season. It was the second consecutive home crowd with more than 7,000 fans.
"Now that the regular season is over and you can take time to look back, it really is an unbelievable achievement to play that well, that consistent, for that long," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "On another note, I am really happy that this season happened during Molly and Lisa's senior year. Those kids have put in so much to the program and it couldn't have been a better regular season. Undefeated, SEC Champions. Now we focus on the NCAA Tournament and hopefully we can keep this going. Trust me, this group is hungry for more."
It was a perfect send-off for the Tiger seniors Molly Kreklow (Delano, Minn.) and Lisa Henning (Blue Springs, Mo.). In front of nearly 8,000 fans for the second consecutive match, the senior duo won its 96th match together, the most in a four-year span in the NCAA Tournament era at Mizzou. They also capped off a season in which Mizzou reset records for wins, conference wins, consecutive wins, consecutive sweeps and wins to open a season.
On Friday, the duo was at its best. Kreklow spread 45 assists (15.00 per set) while guiding Mizzou to .350 hitting, the 29th time in 34 matches that Mizzou has hit .300 in a match this season. Henning added 14 kills on .323 hitting with four digs in the win. Henning finishes the regular season with 472 kills on a career-best .339 hitting this season. Kreklow finishes the regular season with a national-best 12.65 assists per set and she guided a Mizzou offense that will likely finish first nationally in hitting (.362), kills per set (15.30) and assists per set (14.55).
On Friday, the stellar performance by the Tiger seniors was aided by freshman phenom Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii), who posted a team-high 15 kills on .407 hitting while pulling in 10 digs. It was her eighth double-double of the season. Junior middle Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) returned to the lineup on Wednesday and pitched in eight kills on 16 errorless attempts with three blocks. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, she needs just nine blocks to match her single season school record (139). The Tigers also got stellar play from junior libero Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) who finished with a match-high 23 digs in the win as she is averaging 6.33 per set over her last three matches.
Mizzou came out firing in the first set and hit .500 with 14 kills on just 24 attempts, led by five from Kan, who did so on .500 hitting. The Tigers ran away with the first set, 25-11. Arkansas struggled to get in a rhythm during the opening frame as it committed eight attack errors while notching just five kills. The second set was more of the same as Mizzou tallied 17 kills on 40 swings while limiting Arkansas to .049 hitting in a 25-16 set win.
Following intermission, the Tigers found themselves in a tight set with the Razorbacks as both teams sided-out at a very efficient rate. Arkansas wound up taking a 24-23 lead despite Mizzou leading much of the set. After a Wayne Kreklow timeout, the Tigers regained the advantage and eventually put the set away, fittingly on a block by Henning and Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.), as they won the set, 29-27. Mizzou, already guaranteed a spot in next month's NCAA Tournament after winning the SEC, will find out its tournament fate on Sunday (Dec. 1). The team will host a watch party starting at 7:30 p.m. inside the Clinton Club at Mizzou Arena. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter MizzouVB.