No. 8 Tigers Dominate No. 17 K-State in Feverish Sweep, Surge to 10-0
Sept. 24, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - It only took one hour, 20 minutes on Saturday for the No. 8 Missouri women's volleyball team to defeat No. 17 Kansas State in a three-game match that was dominated completely by the Tigers. In front of a roaring Tiger crowd of 2,438, the second-largest crowd in team history and the most to witness a regular-season match, Mizzou (10-0, 4-0) stunned Kansas State (11-2, 2-1), winning 30-19, 30-20, and 30-26. Individually for the Tigers, juniors Jessica Vander Kooi and Nicole Wilson scored 11 team-high kills on the evening, with Wilson going errorless for the second-consecutive match, hitting 11-for-13 (.846). Mizzou again recorded a hefty amount of blocks on the night, scoring on 12, with nine coming from Wilson who tied a season-high. Missouri also scored eight points on service aces, three of which coming from senior Lindsey Hunter who had 40 assists, quarterbacking the team to 49 kills. In what started out as Vander Kooi's show, Mizzou cruised in game one winning 30-19 off six kills from the junior. In nearly every instance of a Vander Kooi attack, the `Cats virtually froze in-place and could not respond to the variety and tenacity of a Vander Kooi streamline. Vander Kooi also had two aces in the frame along with one of her six blocks on the evening. Mizzou went up early in the first stanza leading 11-5 following a double-block by Na Yang and Nicole Wilson. The Tigers were up 20-15 before Mizzou scored seven of the next eight points to lead 27-16 after the two Vander Kooi aces. KSU responded with three kills from team-leader Agata Rezende (who ended up with a match-high 15 kills), but Mizzou prevailed, winning 30-19. Game one absolutely stunned Kansas State, who entered the contest having won 21-out-of-22 of the team's last matches over Missouri. The Tiger hitting percentage of .429 in the frame included Vander Kooi's six kills, and errorless three-kill games by Wilson and senior Lisa Boyd. The team matched their NCAA-leading 18 kill average in the game and recorded only three errors.
In the second game, Mizzou came out strong again, leading 13-4 after two aces by Abbie Booth. K-State would muster a 19-10 spread before the Tiger arsenal struck again, responding by scoring seven of the next eight point to capture a 26-11 lead. Wilson landed three kills and two additional blocks over the eight-point period. Mizzou claimed their only two hitting errors of the match off of two K-State blocks in KSU's 7-1 run, which put the score at 27-18. But, Mizzou closed the books on the frame with two Boyd kills to win 30-20. The Tigers hit .516 in the second frame, hitting 18-of-31 kill attempts, committing only two errors. KSU put a scare into the Tigers in game three. Mizzou cruised to a 20-10 lead before the `Cats woke up and went on a 10-1 run to pull within one at 21-20. The Tigers shut out K-State, responding with two more Wilson blocks and K-State hitting errors to win 30-26. The Tigers will take the crew back on the road Wednesday, as the team will travel to Waco, Texas, to take on the Baylor Bears. The meeting is part of a two-match road trip that includes a Saturday stop in Lubbock, Texas, where Mizzou will play Texas Tech before hosting No. 1 Nebraska, October 5, in the Hearnes Center. For more information on Mizzou volleyball, visit mutigers.com. |
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