Sept. 29, 2007
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COLUMBIA, Mo. -
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team picked a fine time to break out of their slump. After a heartbreaking collapse at the hands of the Kansas Jayhawks a week and a half ago, and being swept in Manhattan, Kan., on Wednesday against the No. 18 Kansas State Wildcats, the Missouri Tigers (8-6, 1-4 Big 12) avoided another potential disaster, upending the No. 25-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (12-3, 5-1 Big 12) 31-29, 30-18, 33-35, 24-30, 15-13, in a classic match between the two conference foes.
"It's easy to get caught up in a game like this. You have to stay together and stay focused," said head coach Wayne Kreklow. "If you don't really have that bind, you just stop. It's easy to get down and lose in a game like this.
"I'm happy with our performance tonight. We needed to do the simple things, and we needed to do the simple things well. Our blocking was improved and we were attacking more aggressively. We didn't play not to lose like we had in the past."
Sophomore Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) led the way for the Tigers with a triple-double, tallying 10 kills, 49 assists, and 15 digs. It was the first Missouri triple-double since Christi Myers pulled off the feat on September 22, 2001, against Texas A&M.
Senior Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) just missed a double-double with 26 kills and nine digs. Sophomore Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) also added a tied-career high 18 kills and five digs for Missouri, who picked up their first conference victory of the season and its first versus a ranked opponent, while dodging a fifth straight loss.
Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) contributed with 12 kills, adding a team-high six blocks.
Senior Tatum Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) led Mizzou with 20 digs. Senior transfer Luiza Jarocka (Warsaw, Poland) scored her second-consecutive double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs.
The loss was the first for Oklahoma in conference play, and first since September 8 against San Diego.
"Megan Wilson and Amanda Hantouli really came through and turned it on tonight. They were big for us," said Coach Kreklow.
The Tigers were able to pull out an exciting 31-29 victory in game one, overcoming a late surge from the Sooner squad. The Sooners got off to a quick start, scoring the four out of the first five points of the game before jumping out to an early 8-6 lead. However, the Tigers were able to rally off four straight points and seven of the next ten to take complete control of the match. The Sooners, though, mounted a rally of their own, showing why they are the conference's top team. Down 29-25, the Sooners collected four straight points, including a big ace from senior libero Hannah Sharp to knot the game up at 29 apiece. Still, the Tigers were able to regroup and secured the next two points to lock up the game one victory. Na Yang led the Tigers with seven kills, while Amanda Hantouli and Lei Wang contributed with four each. Both squads had an impressive hitting percentage, with Oklahoma hitting .447 in the game, while Missouri hit an even .400.
The Tigers put together arguably the most complete game of the year in game two, befuddling the Sooners on both offensive and defensive the entire game. With separate rallies of four, five, and six straight points, the Tigers were able to jump out to an early lead and never looked back, stunning the Sooners with impressive 30-18 victory. With Missouri leading 7-5 early on, the Tigers scored six straight points to make it 13-5 and took complete control. After Oklahoma cut the lead down to 14-10, the Sooners were never closer than five points for the rest of the game. Behind Yang's eight kill, six dig performance in the game, the Tigers limited the Sooners to a dismal .028 hitting percentage, including nine errors from the Oklahoma squad. Missouri, on the other hand, committed only one error while hitting an astounding .472 for the game. Five Tigers combined for eight blocks in the game, after the squad had zero blocks in the first game. Sophomore Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) added five kills in the game for Missouri.
The third game brought the most exciting game of the match between the Sooners and the Tigers, a game which saw ten ties and four lead changes. The Sooners got out to a hot start in this game, scoring five of the first six points while limiting the Tigers' offensive attack. The Tigers, however, hung close, and the turning point of the match for the team came during a long volley back and forth that went the Tigers' way to cut the Sooner lead down to 20-16. After that point, the Tigers scored six of the next seven points to take a 24-23 lead, their first of the game. Following four straight Sooner points out of a timeout, Missouri scored four of the next five with help from three errors by Oklahoma to even the game at 28-28. The two teams traded points to a 31-31 tie before the momentum swung back in the direction of the Sooners. A hard kill attempt by the Tigers deflected off the chest of a Sooner player and back over the net, past the Tiger players, and fell into play for a Sooner point to give them the 32-31 lead. The Tigers tied it back up before luck fell the Sooners' way again. The ball deflected off a Sooner player after a Tiger kill attempt, and after flying out of play, appeared to hit the floor just out of reach of the diving Sooner. However, the play was not blown dead, as a Sooner used a pancake dig to eventually give Oklahoma the point and give them a 33-32 lead. The Tigers were able to tie it up once more, but the Sooners scored two straight points to secure the 35-33 victory.
Na Yang and Megan Wilson had five kills each for a Missouri team that had a hitting percentage of only .127 in this game. After committing just five errors in the first two games combined, the team had nine in game three. The Sooners committed their most errors of the match with ten. Hannah Sharp had nine digs for the Sooners, while Mariana Blum added nine kills and three digs.
The Sooners took the momentum from game three and rode it through game four, beating the Tigers 30-24 to even up the match. The Tigers hung around for most of the game, but could never get anything going consistently. The two squads exchanged points early, being tied at one point 6-6, but the Sooners gradually pulled away. Leading 15-10, Oklahoma was able to play steady, error-free volleyball, while fighting off the Tigers attempt at a comeback and taking advantage of eight Tiger errors in the game. Mariana Blum added six more kills to her total, while Bridget Laplante had seven digs in the game for Oklahoma. The Tigers were led Na Yang and Megan Wilson, throwing down four kills apiece. Amanda Hantouli and Catie Wilson each had two kills, while Tatum Ailes had six more kills.
As if the first four games weren't exciting enough, the fifth and final game of the match came all the way down to the wire. The Tigers, however, rebounded after dropping the last two games and secured the game and match win with a 15-13 victory in game five. The two teams fought back and forth, battling to three ties in the game. After being down 14-10, the Sooners fought back with three straight points before Missouri locked up the final point and the victory. Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) led the way for the Tigers with four kills in the game.
The Tigers will try and ride the momentum from this game and turn it into a winning streak when they head to Boulder, Colo., to take on the Buffaloes. The game is slated for a 7:30 p.m., central time, start and will be televised on FSN Midwest and FSN Rocky Mountain.
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