Freshman Shayli Meyer
 
Freshman Shayli Meyer
  
 
Mizzou Lookin' For Home Cookin', Face No. 25 Oklahoma Saturday

Tigers play six of next eight at home

Sept. 28, 2007

#25 Oklahoma at
Missouri
September 29, 2007, 6:30pm

Missouri Volleyball
hosts Oklahoma

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Coaches

  • Missouri (7-6, 0-4 Big 12): Wayne Kreklow (Drake ‘80), 317-53 overall (9th year), 50-24 at Mizzou (3rd year), 159-70 at with wife at Mizzou (8th year), 12-2 vs Oklahoma
  • Oklahoma (12-2, 4-0 Big 12): Santaigo Restrepo (East Stroudsburg, 1986), 189-20 overall (9th year), 59-47 at Oklahoma (4th year), 2-4 vs Missouri

Series Matchup

  • The Sooners lead the all-time series against Missouri 33-29 after defeating the Tigers both times they met last season.
  • Before beating Missouri in Columbia last season, the Sooners had dropped 12 straight matches to the Tigers at the Hearnes Center. 
  • The all-time series in Columbia is tied up 12-12.

Of Note

  • The Tigers have only been 7-6 once in school history, in 1994.
  • Unlike the September 26 curse, Mizzou has won four straight on September 29 and are 2-0 against Oklahoma on the date.
  • Mizzou is 0-4 against Oklahoma when the Sooners are ranked.
  • Before being swept in the season series last year, the Tigers won 12 straight over the Sooners.
  • Mizzou is 4-7 against Oklahoma all time in five-game matches.

COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri volleyball team (7-6, 0-4 Big 12) will begin an important stretch of contests on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., when hosting No. 25 Oklahoma (12-2, 4-0 Big 12) in the Hearnes Center as six-of-next-eight Tiger matches will be at home. In addition to the $2 admission given to the general public when they wear Black & Gold, the first 150 students admitted Saturday will receive free pizza.

Last Time We Met … Missouri-Oklahoma
It was November 15, 2006 when then No. 14 Oklahoma won their first match in Columbia since 1997. But, in no way did the 25-30, 30-27, 30-32, 30-20, 19-17 Sooner victory come easy. Just the game five score of 19-17 tells the tale. A big Tiger crowd helped Mizzou to a 30-25 game one win, but the Sooners would win game two. The Tigers fought to win game three 32-30, but dropped the final two in what was an intense match.

Na Yang recorded a double-double with 22 kills and 13 digs while also adding three blocks. The double-double marked the 12th in her career and was her eighth of the season. Nicole Wilson had 20 kills on the night along with six digs and five blocks. Jessica Vander Kooi rebounded for her 66th career double-double and 17th of the season with 16 kills and 17 digs. Julianna Klein had 17 kills and five digs while Amanda Hantouli) had eight kills while also adding six blocks. Lei Wang had 75 assists, a career high and was the third best performance in Mizzou history.

It was also the night that Tatum Ailes broke her own single-season digs record that she first set in 2005. Ailes, who needed only two to top her record of 436, had 29 on the night.

Scouting Oklahoma …
The No. 25 Oklahoma Sooners (12-2, 5-0 Big 12) volleyball squad looks to continue their hot streak as they head to Columbia to take on the Tigers this Saturday at the Hearnes Center.  The Sooners, who are riding a five-game winning streak, hope to avoid being the first Big 12 victory for the Tigers this season.  The two losses for Oklahoma this season have both come on the road.

Oklahoma is lead by three big hitters this season.  Sophomore Bridget Laplante, alongside seniors Sarah Weiland and Mariana Blum, are all averaging over 3.00 kills per game this season.  The Sooners as team are ranked second in the conference behind Nebraska, with 16.02 kills/game.  Senior Julie Chester is ranked second in the Big 12 in assists, averaging 13.12 per game.  Hannah Sharp, also a senior, is ranked fourth in the conference with 4.25 digs a game.

Despite being undefeated in conference play and ranked in the top 25, the Sooners sit in the bottom half in the Big 12 in hitting percentage (8th), team hitting percentage (8th), and blocks per game (10th). 

The Sooners’ hot start has them on top of the conference standings, tied with the Nebraska Cornhuskers (11-0, 4-0 Big 12).  They lead the all-time series against Missouri 33-29 after defeating the Tigers both times they met last season. Before beating Missouri in Columbia last season, the Sooners had dropped 12 straight matches to the Tigers at the Hearnes Center.  The all-time series in Columbia is tied up 12-12.

-- Steve Keers

  • The Tigers have only been 7-6 once in school history, in 1994.
  • Unlike the September 26 curse, Mizzou has won four straight on September 29 and are 2-0 against Oklahoma on the date.
  • Mizzou is 0-4 against Oklahoma when the Sooners are ranked.
  • Before being swept in the season series last year, the Tigers won 12 straight over the Sooners.
  • Mizzou is 4-7 against Oklahoma all time in five-game matches.

Recapping the Kansas State Match
History continued to not be kind to Mizzou Wednesday night in its loss to No. 18 Kansas State. The match marked the eighth-straight Mizzou loss on September 26th and the seventh-straight decision lost to an 18th-ranked team in the country. The contest also marked the first time K-State, the 2003 Big 12 Champs, swept Mizzou since November 24, 2004 and broke the Tigers’ four-match winning streak over the ‘Cats.

Here are some other extra notes from the Wednesday match:

  • The real bright spot for the Tigers was the hitting of senior OH Na Yang. With her first of 11 kills, Yang went into Mizzou’s all-time top five in the category by passing Nicole Wilson to now stand at 1,166. Yang attacked without an error for the first time this season, tallying a .611 hitting strike, her best of the season.
  • Sophomore S Lei Wang surprisingly was the team’s leader in attacks against K-State, fielding 23 swings. In game three, Mizzou went back to a 5-1 system, but as Luiza Jarocka as the primary setter the entire game, meaning Wang was playing as an outside hitter in the frame. As a result, Jarocka tallied a Mizzou career-high 17 assists while Lei was left with a career-low eight asssits.
  • While Na hit .611 (11-0-18), the remainder of the team hit .132 (25-15-76) to tally a season-low 36 kills.
  • Mizzou also had a season-low with five blocks.
  • The main weapon K-State used in the sweep was very good serving. The Tigers were forced to deal with 10 service aces, a season-high for a Mizzou opponent. K-State took advantage of their serving prowess to hit .371 as a team as Rita Liliom captured a league-leading .583 match hitting percentage (12-kill minimum, that’s why Na did not receive mention) with 15 kills to lead K-State.

Klein’s ACL is a Sideliner
The results from an MRI test conducted on September 10 came back with unsavory results as Mizzou OH sophomore Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) was diagnosed with a torn ACL in her left knee which was a result of an injury suffered in a September 8 match versus Houston in San Marcos, Texas.

In the third of four games against Houston, with the Tigers up 20-12, Klein went to attack a ball and then came down in pain.

Klein was leading Mizzou with 4.44 kills per game, up from her 2.75 average her freshman season and stood fourth in the Big 12 in the category. In addition, Klein’s defense showed much improvement as her digs-per-game shot from 0.75 her frosh campaign to 2.85 this season, resulting in the first five kill-dig double-doubles of her career. Along with leading Mizzou with 0.48 service aces per game, Klein was third in the Big 12 with 5.30 points per game, behind only 2006 National Player of the Year Sarah Pavan of Nebraska and All-American Destinee Hooker of Texas.

Despite not playing in the final match of the CenturyTel Premier against host Texas State, Klein was named the tournament’s MVP, scoring 5.67 kills per game on a .342 hitting strike for the Tigers while adding 3.33 digs per game and scoring 6.67 points per game.

Klein was also named to Ole Miss’ Magnolia Classic All-Tournament team, opening the season with a career-best 26 kills against the Rebels.

Milestone Watch

  • Along with her top five pursuit in career kills, Yang is also ninth all-time in points with 1,303.5, 14 away from taking eighth from Renee Rosinski.
  • Senior Tatum Ailes already holds the Mizzou all-time record in digs with 1,659, but how high will the bar be set? … against Texas on September 15, Ailes became the 17th Tiger to play in their 100th match at Mizzou.
  • Sophomore Amanda Hantouli quietly keeps creeping up Mizzou’s all-time blocks per game list … since she became eligible for the category earlier this season, she has crept from eighth all time to her current standing of third all-time with 0.8912 blocks per game and is just a smaller fraction from Krista Johnson, who now is fourth on the list (0.8892) … in the last five matches, Hantouli has scored 1.05 bpg.

Schedule Change
The Tigers’ match versus Baylor, originally scheduled for Saturday, November 3, has been moved to Friday, November 2. The match time will remain at 6:30 p.m.

Television For Iowa State’s Visit to Columbia
The November 14 volleyball match in the Hearnes Center between the Missouri Tigers and the Iowa State Cyclones will be televised on the Mizzou Sports Network. FSN Midwest will air the match live in Mid-Missouri and St. Louis while those in Kansas City can catch live action on MetroSports.

The Wednesday match is slated for a 6:30 p.m., start, and will be the third televised match of the season.

FSN Midwest and FSN Rocky Mountain will air live coverage of Mizzou’s match at Colorado on October 3 while CSTV will air live coverage of the Tigers’ visit to Nebraska on October 31.

Big 12 Report
Through last Saturday’s matches
Missouri continued its struggles and fell to 0-3 in Big 12 play for the first time since 1998, two seasons before the current coaching staff arrived at the school.  The Tigers fell to Iowa State and Kansas, both in five games.  Iowa State, meanwhile, improved to 3-1 in Big 12 play, defeating Missouri and losing to Texas.  Kansas, on the other hand, even its record at 2-2 in conference play after two wins last week (Missouri and Texas Tech).  Missouri travels to Kansas State and hosts Oklahoma this week.  Iowa State is off on Wednesday before taking on the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, and Kansas hosts No. 1 Nebraska. 

Baylor picked up its first victory when they defeated Colorado in five games.  However, they couldn’t follow up that victory with another one, as they dropped a 3-1 decision to Oklahoma at home.  The Bears host Texas A&M, before heading to Lincoln to face the Huskers.

Colorado joins Missouri as the only teams that have not won a match in Big 12 play this year.  After losing to Baylor, the Buffs dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to No. 18 Kansas State.  Colorado goes on the road for a two game road trip as they face Oklahoma in Norman and Texas in Austin on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. 

After losing its first Big 12 match to Oklahoma, No. 18 Kansas State rebounded with a nice 3-2 victory over Colorado.  After hosting Missouri, the Wildcats travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M.

No. 1 Nebraska kept rolling along with a 3-0 victory over Texas A&M last week.  That is the Huskers’ eighth three game sweep win of the year.  In fact, Nebraska has only lost one game in all its matches, dropping one to UCLA, in their second match of the year. 

After winning its only match of the short week, No. 7 Texas travels to Texas Tech before hosting Colorado.  The Longhorns continue to play without star sophomore Ashley Engle, who is still sidelined. 

After splitting against Texas Tech (win) and Nebraska (loss) last week, Texas A&M looks to rebound against Baylor and Kansas State.  After winning their first ten matches, the Aggies have struggled, losing three of their last four, all in conference play. 

-- Mike Wojtychiw

National Report
Only two upsets?!:  There was only one upset in the past week, as Colorado State, a team receiving votes, defeated No. 23 BYU.  The other upset was then-No. 23 Ohio State dropping a 3-2 decision to Northwestern, who improved their record to 10-2, before losing to Penn State.

Not a whole lot of moving:  Only one team dropped out of the Top 25, Ohio State, which allowed Oklahoma to sneak into the poll at No. 2, after its win against then No. 16 Kansas State.  The top 15 stayed the same, with California and Michigan switching spots to No. 10 and 11, respectively.  BYU made the biggest drop, falling from No. 17 to No. 23.  No teams made any significant movement up the rankings. 

Tripling it up:  Senior Setter Leanne Felsing of UW-Milwaukee eight triple doubles in her team’s 14 matches.  In those eight matches she is averaging 15.38 kills, 28.5 assists, and 15 digs per triple double match.  The Panthers (13-1), who run a 6-2 offense, are are undefeated when Felsing gets a triple double. 

-- Mike Wojtychiw

Notes to Keep in Mind … 2006 Revisited

  • The Tigers are coming off a 2006 campaign that included a seventh-consecutive birth to the NCAA Tournament. As a result, Mizzou and Nebraska are now the only programs in the Big 12 Conference to have made the post-season every year since 2000.
  • Mizzou won their first-round matchup in the tournament for the third-straight year in 2006, knocking off No. 21 Santa Clara in a three-game sweep in Palo Alto, Calif. The Tigers forced eventual national runner-up Stanford to a five-game thriller in the second round on the Cardinal’s home floor, coming back from a game down and 16-10 deficit in the fourth stanza to produce a fifth-game.
  • Despite an 18-13 final record in 2006, the end-of-the-season surge produced a No. 21 final ranking in the AVCA Top 25, marking Mizzou’s third-straight year among the nation’s best. Only 15 teams have been sited on at least the last three final national polls.

Preseason Impressions
The coaches of the Big 12 picked Mizzou to finish third in the Big 12 Conference this season. Defending National and Conference Champion Nebraska was picked to win for the fourth-straight year. Texas was voted second. Truth-be-told, the voting for the third through ninth spots was incredibly close. Right on the Tigers’ heels (or tail) in the voting was Texas A&M and Colorado.  Iowa State and Kansas State were very close in voting as well. Oklahoma, finished second in the league last year, is picked ninth this season. It should be a very interesting season in the league.

The national impression of the league is also striking. Nebraska was the coaches’ preseason pick to at national No. 1. Texas is also expected to have a big year, they ranked 4th in the preseason national poll. The Tigers had a No. 20 preseason ranking with Oklahoma, mentioned earlier that they were picked to finish ninth in the league, had a No. 22 preseason standing, ending the 2006 season with a No. 12 ranking. Texas A&M, Colorado, and Iowa State all received votes in the poll. 

Senior Salute
At no time in Mizzou volleyball history have players entered the season with as much playing experience in the NCAA Tournament as seniors Tatum Ailes and Na Yang. Helping the Tigers to their seventh-postseason run in 2006, both Yang and Ailes have played eight NCAA Tournament matches in their previous three years at Mizzou which includes a run to the field’s round of eight in 2005.

Both Ailes and Yang were named to this season’s Preseason All-Big 12 team, and for Ailes, she became the first defensive player in league history to earn such an honor.

Ailes (Bellevue, Neb.) returns for her senior campaign fresh from an appearance on Team USA's A2-national training team this spring and returns to the team having been the Tigers' starting libero for three seasons. Meanwhile, Ailes has already made a lasting impression on the Mizzou program as the squad's all-time leader in digs and digs per game. In 2005, the coaches of the Big 12 named Ailes as Libero of the Year.

Yang (Shan Dong, China) is in her senior campaign as well and has an accomplished record from her previous three years at Mizzou. Yang has shown prowess during the regular season, but her numbers in the post-season are the outside-hitter's bread-and-butter. In eight NCAA Tournament matches, Yang has averaged 4.10 kills per game on a .304 hitting percentage.

Sophomore Surge
A very large, and important, piece of this year’s puzzle is four returning Tigers in their second year of eligibility. The Class of ’09 will vital in Mizzou’s “Unleashing”.

Setter Lei Wang is already going into her second full year of leading the Tiger offense, coming off a successful frosh season in leading the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament with a 12.46 assists per game, 2.39 digs per game, and 0.98 points per game average. During the Big 12 season, Wang averaged 12.86 assists per game, ranking fifth in the league. Wang recorded 63 assists in the five-game NCAA second-round match at Stanford and was a crucial component of the Tiger game-four comeback, as Mizzou hit nearly .500 (13-2-24) from when the Tigers were down 16-10 to when Mizzou won the frame 30-25.

Keota, Iowa, native Julianna Klein stepped up during her true freshman season, finding a starting role in 18 matches last season. Klein scored 10-or-more kills in 16 matches last season, including scoring a season-high 21 kills versus Baylor on September 27. Against Stanford in the NCAA second round, Klein carded 14 kills and six digs. In addition, Klein’s serve caught several opponents off guard early in the year as she scored 18 of her 23 aces from the season in the first 11 matches. Klein racked seven aces in an early-season tournament match against Villanova.

Amanda Hantouli started 25 matches last season as a redshirt freshman, finding her first playing time since an ACL injury sidelined the Omaha, Neb., native during her senior year in high school. Now a sophomore, Hantouli contributed 10-or-more kills in four contests and five-or-more blocks in six matches last season. Her play against Stanford in the NCAA second round gave many a picture into the possible future as she scored 10 kills on 15 attempts (.533), adding three blocks.

Megan Wilson will likely see quite a bit of playing time as a right-side hitter this season. The 6-2 sophomore from Lincoln, Neb., exposed much talent as a server as well last season. Against Stanford in the NCAA second round, Wilson added three crucial aces and served many points in efforts to throw the Cardinal offense. Wilson had three matches in 2006 with two-or-more aces.

Sparkling and New
This year’s incoming freshman class will get much experience, very early. Unlike the class before that had three use redshirt seasons to refine their skills, this Class of 2010 will see time immediately.

Newcomer Caitlyn Vann comes to Mizzou from Muncie, Ind., and Burris High School. Vann, along with fellow newcomer Catie Wilson, was one of 35 to be named to the inaugural AVCA High School Senior All-American list. Vann was a three-time All-State selection at Burris, earning first-team honors in her junior and senior seasons. While Vann was recruited as a libero, she played as a left-side hitter in her years in high school, tallying 442 kills and 368 digs as team captain in her recently completed senior season. Vann was also a part of USA Volleyball’s Junior National Training Team in 2006 and was before a two-year member of USAV’s Youth National-A2 team.

Weiwen Wang comes to Mizzou from Nanjing, China, and is the fifth Tiger to come from the country. Wang was captain of her national-champion high school team and was a member of her country’s team that won the 2006 World School Volleyball Championship in Porec, Croatia. Wang was also a member of the Chinese 15 & Under Youth National team that took third.

Catie Wilson (no relation to Megan Wilson) comes to Mizzou from Omaha, Neb., and Gross High School. Wilson, along with Vann was named to the AVCA’s inaugural High School Senior All-American Team. In addition, Wilson was a four-time All-State selection, earning first-team honors in her junior and senior seasons.

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Vann Tries Out For USA National Team

02/26/2009 - W. Volleyball

Last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado, junior setter for the Mizzou Tiger volleyball team, Caitlyn Vann, participated in the USA National Team tryouts.

Volleyball Standout Returns To Mizzou

02/17/2009 - W. Volleyball

In a glass case, adjacent to one of the many entrances in the Hearnes Center, hangs a red, white and blue jersey covered in black ink. Mostly silent and surrounded by memories of the past, the name on the jersey speaks loudly than any piece of memorabilia in that case: Hunter.

Tiger Volleyball Inks Three for `09

11/17/2008 - W. Volleyball

Three have signed National Letters of Intent to play volleyball at the University of Missouri next fall: Paola Ampudia, Kate Harris, and Lindsey Petrick.

Mizzou Volleyball Camps Finalized

01/21/2009 - W. Volleyball

Mizzou will once again offer summer camps for high schoolers interested in learning more about the sport of volleyball.

VB's Post-Season Push Brings No. 13 K-State

11/18/2008 - W. Volleyball

The Mizzou volleyball team has won four straight home matches and three of its last four overall, but No. 13 Kansas State comes to the Hearnes Center Wednesday.