The old adage spawned from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come", has certainly rang true for the Missouri volleyball team. After six years of building the Tigers into one of the best teams in the nation, Mizzou coaches Wayne and Susan Kreklow can look around the Hearnes Center on any given night of a home match and see at least 2,000 fans, most of them anxious for another stirring performance by the Tiger volleyball squad.

On October 5, 2005, Mizzou entered a match with No. 1 Nebraska ranked as the No. 7 team in nation. Both teams were undefeated and touted as the hottest in the country. A school-record 7,298 fans poured into the former basketball home of the Tigers to cheer on the Mizzou squad, enticing an atmosphere that was electric from beginning to its four-game match end. Although the Tigers did not come out on top, they placed themselves on the map as a team with a large following.

And, the fans kept coming. Later that season, the Tigers hosted the first-and-second rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. In Mizzou's first round game versus Missouri State, 6,294 fans showed and made the Hearnes Center the most-attended site of the 16 opening-round sites of the tournament.

In 2005, Missouri ranked sixth nationally in attendance, shattering the previous school record with a 2,670 fan average through 15 home matches.

Volleyball matches at Mizzou offer a little bit of everything for everyone and are very budget friendly. Families have benefited as their sons and daughters witness the hard-work and great-attitudes of the Mizzou volleyball family and get to meet the student-athletes up close in a variety of ways, ranging from post-match autograph sessions to pre-match youth clinics.

With a returning squad that will be poised to position themselves on top once again. The carnival like atmosphere for Tiger fans and Missouri students will continue far into the future. Student groups such as Volley Zou and the Kreklow Krazies have started a volleyball-fan tradition that continues to grow at the University of Missouri.

By Jeremy Lynn, Media Relations Student Assistant