Mizzou Marches to the Mid-Atlantic to Continue Road Trip

Tigers will play Maryland, Kentucky, and St. John's in weekend tourney

Sept. 4, 2008

COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri volleyball team (2-1) will continue its non-conference, road-trip rally this weekend in traveling to College Park, Md., for the Spring Hill Suites at Arundel Mills Invitational. The Tigers, still receiving votes in the AVCA/CBS College Sports Coaches’ Poll, will play host Maryland Friday and Kentucky and St. John’s Saturday. The Red Storm joins MU among teams getting votes in the coaches’ poll.

Spring Hill Suites at Arundel Mills Invitational, hosted by Maryland, College Park, Md. – September 5-6
(times in CT, local time is ET)
Friday, September 5
4:00 p.m., (RV) St. John’s vs. Kentucky
6:00 p.m., (RV) MISSOURI at Maryland

Saturday, September 6
9:00 a.m., (RV) St. John’s at Maryland
11:00 a.m., Kentucky vs. (RV) MISSOURI
4:30 p.m., (RV) MISSOURI vs. (RV) St. John’s
6:30 p.m., Kentucky at Maryland

Tournament Central … Live Stat Links and More …
http://umterps.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/08-vb-tourney.html

Looking Back West …
Last weekend the Tigers went 2-1 to open play in the 2008 season, placing runner-up to now-No. 16 BYU at their Molten Classic in Provo, Utah. After defeating Tulane, a team picked to win Conference USA, in four sets on Friday, the Tigers dispatched Utah State in four on Saturday morning to set a Tiger-Cougar championship match.

Mizzou dropped the first set to BYU, but bounced back to win the second. After losing the third by giving up 18-straight points after leading 6-2, the Tigers pushed emotions to the side to win set four. The fifth started with an 8-6 MU lead at the switch, but BYU would tie at 13-13. The Cougars had match point at 14-13, but Mizzou’s Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) saved a long rally by sneaking the ball to the near, back corner to tie it at 14-all. A thunderous kill by Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) gave the Tigers the advantage, putting the score at 15-14 and a match-point opportunity. BYU then went to full throttle, scoring three straight to take MU’sfirst marathon match of the year.


 

 

Klein and Tiger sophWeiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) was named to the All-Tournament team. Klein led the Tiger charge with 3.46 kills per set on the weekend, including 23 tallied in the MU win over Utah State. Wang was outstandingly consistent, notching 3.08 kills per set on a .354 hitting strike, adding 1.31 blocks per set. Also deserving mention is sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.), who in her first weekend as Mizzou’s newest libero, replacing graduated Tatum Ailes, contributed 5.15 digs per set, 67 in total, to lead all of the Big 12 in early non-conference play.

Your Tropical Forecast …
As of Wednesday night, the National Hurricane Center has predicted that Tropical Storm Hanna may affect the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Maryland, as early as Saturday afternoon. The NHC, in its latest projections, has Hanna becoming a hurricane before making landfall on the North Carolina coast early Saturday. Time will tell if any of the winds, or most likely a crazy amount of rain, will affect Mizzou’s travels. Ironically, Tulane, who was at the BYU Molten Classic with the Tigers last weekend, flew directly to California after last weekend, the site of this weekend’s tournament at Cal Poly because of the shutdown of its campus due to Hurricane Gustav.

The First to 25 … Wins!
Okay, new rules. For the fourth time in a decade collegiate volleyball has made a major change to the game. In 2001, scoring went from side-out to rally. In 2003, we added the libero. In 2005, the libero could serve. AND, in 2008: we play to 25. Why keep a record book anymore? By the way, that’s a joke.

Sets (yes, not games – that’s an NCAA-mandated change in terminology) will be played to 25 points, with the fifth set still concluding at 15 points (you still have to win by two). The NCAA is progressively becoming more consistent with the FIVB (international federation) rules, and the change in scoring is a step in that direction. What does this mean bottom line? Shorter matches and a more concentrated effort to stop scoring runs before they the set becomes quickly out of hand.

Sing it Willie …
“On the road again, I can’t wait to get on the road again” … The Tigers will take four trips in a row, to BYU, to Maryland, to Nevada, and to Oklahoma before playing a match in the Hearnes Center, that’s 10 matches without a home contest, marking the longest such streak since 1997 when the Tigers played 15-consecutive matches away from home to start the season. 

Scouting Maryland …
Legendary Maryland coach Janice Kruger retired in January as the Atlantic Coast Conference's winning coach. Kruger's replacement, Tim Horsmon, and the Lady Terrapins are off to a 1-2 start after last weekend's VCU Third Degree Sportswear Invitational in Richmond, Va.

The Lady Terrapins are predicted to finish seventh in the ACC after losing two of the program's better players, Beth Gillming and Jade Brown. Maryland does return senior OH Mary Beth Brown, a left-handed All-ACC preseason selection. Brown led the Terps in blocks a year ago and recorded 10 double-digit kill matches.

Scouting Kentucky …
Picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference, UK enters the Maryland Tournament with a 3-1 record. The Lady Wildcats opened the season with victories over Pittsburgh and Western Carolina in the Kentucky Classic before being swept by No. 10 Wisconsin. Craig Skinner’s squad rebounded Tuesday night with a 3-1 victory against Morehead State.

The Lady Wildcats are led by MB Queen Nzenwa, a Nigerian by birth who played her high school volleyball in Baltimore, which is not far from College Park. In 2007, Nzenwa was first-team All-SEC and honorable mention All-America, UK’s first All-American since 1993. League coaches named Nzenwa, the UK school record holder in career blocks (491), to the pre-season All-SEC team this August.

A year ago, UK reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 1993. The Lady Wildcats have appeared in three consecutive NCAA tournaments.

Scouting St. John’s …
The Red Storm are receiving votes in the latest AVCA poll despite being swept in its opening two matches against No. 5 California and UC-Santa Barbara at the Cal Molten Classic in Berkeley, Calif. SJU picked up their first victory of the season Monday with a 3-1 victory at San Jose State. Joanne Perisco-Smith’s squad traveled to New Britain, Conn., Wednesday night, sweeping Central Connecticut State.

In 2007, SJU compiled a 33-4 record (13-1 in Big East play) and reached the Sweet 16 before bowing out in five sets to No. 5 USC. The Red Storm return three starters, including pre-season Big EAST player of the year WioletaLeszczysnka and back-to-back Big EAST libero of the year Lena Yee.

-- scouting by McClain Thompson and Ted Bryant

In the Preseason …
Mizzou was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 by the league coaches. Sophomore MB Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) was the lone Tiger selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team.

In her role, Wang led the Tiger team last year in service aces (34), and was second on the team in kills per set (2.96), blocks per set (0.89), hitting percentage (.256), and points per set (3.78). In addition, “Wendy” was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on October 8 after posting school records with 19 errorless kills and 13 total blocks in the October 3 match at Colorado. She repeated the 19 errorless kills when the Buffaloes came to Columbia on November 24.

Crazy Eights and Zero Seniors …
What have we learned so far in 2008? If the Beijing Olympics taught us anything, it’s that the number eight is a lucky number for the Chinese and in its culture, all the more evident with its beginning of the Olympic Opening Ceremony on 8-8-08 at 8:08:08 p.m.

The Missouri volleyball team in the 2008 season also wishes to employ the luck of the number EIGHT. The Tigers have been to EIGHT-consecutive NCAA Tournaments – every one of them in the decade, with Nebraska being the only other team in the Big 12 to match. For as young as the Tigers seemed last season, they return EIGHT to the team this season, five of which started in more than 20 matches last year. And, get used to the faces – there are zero seniors in 2008, meaning it will be a carbon-copy roster in 2009.

 “I look at us on paper and what we have returning, and that makes me feel positive about what we are able to do this year,” said Head Coach Wayne Kreklow. “We’ve got a core group – we’ve got a returning setter, we’ve got a lot of returners from last year’s team back.”

Welcome Back, Klein …
Not included in the list of “technical starters” from last season is junior OH Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa). Klein started last season on a roll, recording kill-dig double-doubles in five of her seven matches played, averaging a then-team high 4.44 kills and 2.85 digs per set, and tabulating a career-high 26 kills in the season opener at Mississippi. But, in the September 7 match versus Houston, Klein went down in the third set, tearing the ACL in her left knee – her season would be over. However, Klein has bounced back, gone through rehab, and is ready to pick up where she left off.

“Jules has had a great spring in coming back from her injury,” said Kreklow. “She’s worked really hard in rehab and has consistently been ahead of all of her rehab goals, so she’s really put in the time and effort in the training room to come back. I thought by the end of the spring she was close to where she was in the fall, so she’s made a lot of progress off the court. She’s obviously very anxious to get back out on the floor again and she’s done a good job working on the little things, like her passing game. She’s always been a big power hitter, and she’s worked hard on the things that are going to be necessary for her to get where she wants to go if she wants to be all-conference, be an All-American player, and help us get back to the tournament again.”

Setting the Table Again …
Now in her fourth year in the Mizzou system, S Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) has a lot to look forward to in her redshirt-junior campaign. Having already guided the Mizzou ship in the last two years as setter, Wang has seemingly found her stride improve with each match experience. Oddly enough, her experience last year had to be tweaked a notch because of the injury to Klein. On occasion, Kreklow would utilize the 6-2 system, making Wang’s play in the front row strictly at the net as a right-side hitter. Although her overall assist-per-set average was down because of the variety of positions that she had to play, Wang still recorded two triple-doubles including a 10 kill, 49 assist, and 15 dig effort versus No. 25 Oklahoma on September 29.

“I thought she had a great second half of last season,” said Kreklow. “She really came on during the month of November and into tournament time and did a real excellent job. What we’ve worked on during the spring has been her individual defense and blocking. I think she’s got a good grasp of what is required of her as a setter and I look for that to improve.”

 

 

 

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