Oct. 8, 2009
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Match Info
Date: Saturday, Oct. 10
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Arena: Hearnes Center
Live Video: www.MUTigers.com.com
Live Stats: www.MUTigers.com
Series Information: Mizzou leads the all-time series with the Red Raiders, 16-11, with all 16 of the Tigers' wins coming in the last 17 matches, dating back to 2000 when the Kreklows took over the Mizzou volleyball program.
What You Need to Know
• With one more win at home this week, Mizzou would match its best home Big 12 start since starting the 2003 season 8-0 at home. Should the Tigers win against Texas Tech on Saturday, Mizzou would square off against Nebraska on Oct. 17 - their next home match - to try and improve to 9-0 at home, which would tie their best start since 2002.
• Julianna Klein posted a career-best eight service aces in the Tigers' win over Colorado on Wednesday. The eight aces are the most in a single match by any player in the Big 12 this season. The eight aces are also the second-most all-time at Mizzou and tie her for third overall with Stacy Harris, who also served eight against Colorado back in 1986. Only Yvette Buhlig posted more in a single match as she hit the nine-ace mark on two separate occasions.
• Libero Caitlyn Vann posted 25 digs on Wednesday against Colorado to move into a tie for fifth place at Mizzou 1,149 career digs. Vann also leads all players in the Big 12 with a 5.48 digs per set average this season.
• Catie Wilson posted 12 kills on 15 attacks with only one error on Wednesday against Colorado, good enough for a .733 hitting percentage. The .733 clip is the ninth-best in a single match in Mizzou history when an attacker posts more than 10 kills. Wilson tied Lindsey Noll, who hit that clip back in 2004 against Nebraska. Wilson has totaled 28 kills on .460 hitting over last three matches.
• Mizzou leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 16-11, while all 16 of the Tigers' wins over the Raiders have come during the Kreklow's tenure at Mizzou.
This Saturday
The Tiger volleyball squad will look to extend its home winning streak to eight as they play host to the Texas Tech Red Raiders at 6:30 p.m. A win would give Mizzou an 8-0 mark at the Hearnes Center this season, which would tie its best home start since 2003. Mizzou leads the all-time series with the Red Raiders, 16-11, with all 16 of the Tigers' wins coming in the last 17 matches, dating back to 2000 when the Kreklows took over the Mizzou volleyball program.
On Wednesday
The Tigers topped Colorado, 3-1, on Wednesday (Oct. 7) in the team's first televised match of the season. With the win, Mizzou drew even in Big 12 play at 3-3 and moved its season record to 11-6. Both Julianna Klein and Paola Ampudia led the Tiger attack with 14 kills apiece in the four-set win. Catie Wilson pitched in 12 kills while hitting .733 while Caitlyn Vann collected 23 digs for her second-straight 20-dig effort. The match marked the beginning of the second half of the season for the Tigers.
Wilson Wows On Wednesday
Junior middle hitter Catie Wilson had 12 kills on 15 attacks with only one error, good for a .733 hitting percentage in Wednesday's match vs. Colorado. The .733 clip is the ninth-best in a single match in Mizzou history when an attacker posts more than 10 kills. Wilson tied Lindsey Noll, who hit that clip back in 2004 against Nebraska. In Big 12 matches, Wilson is hitting .346 - which ranks sixth during Big 12 play - with 49 kills and has had 28 of those kills on .460 hitting in her last three matches. Wilson now ranks 10th overall in the Big 12 in hitting with a .340 clip.
Cracking the Top Five
With her 23 digs against Colorado on Wednesday, junior Caitlyn Vann moved into a tie for fifth place on the Mizzou career digs list with 1,149. Vann has averaged 5.48 digs per set since Big 12 play started; that is the top mark by any player in the Big 12 this season while her 4.55 digs per set overall ranks third in the league.
More on Vann
With her 34 digs last week, Vann was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, marking the third time in her career that she has taken home the award. It also marked the third time this season that a Tiger has been honored with a Big 12 Weekly laurel. Vann has been on a steady climb over her last six matches since collecting 21 at Oklahoma. If Vann, continues at her current pace, she will finish the 2009 campaign with 513 digs, making her only the second Tiger to have back-to-back 500-dig seasons.
Another Big Night for Klein
With 50 total attacks against Colorado, Julianna Klein passed former Tigers Renee Rosinski and Naaron Branson to move into ninth place on Mizzou's all-time list with 2,751. Earlier this season, Klein posted 78 attacks in Mizzou's win over Texas A&M, which is a school record. Klein added 12 digs in the match against Colorado to go with her 14 kills for her fifth double-double of the season. Klein also posted eight service aces in the match, the most by any player in the Big 12 this season and the second-most ever by a Tiger, trying her with Stacy Harris, who hit the eight-ace mark back in 1986. The Mizzou record is nine, set on two separate occasions by Yvette Buhlig in 1990.
Speaking of Aces
The Tigers lead the Big 12 with 86 total service aces this season as both Caitlyn Vann (third, 0.35 per set) and Julianna Klein (sixth, 0.30 per set) ranksamongst the Big 12's top 10 this season. Klein has posted the most service aces in a match by a Big 12 player with her eight against Colorado on Wednesday while Vann's six aces against UMKC comes in ranked second overall. As a team, Mizzou has served up 1.43 aces per set this season, which ranks them second in the league behind only Texas A&M. Mizzou posted a season-best 11 aces in the win over Colorado and also hit the 11-ace mark against UMKC. That mark is tops in a Big 12 best this season.
Milestone for Klein
Julianna Klein posted her 900th career kill against CU on Wednesday, the most among active players.
Milestone for Wang-Francisco
Senior setter Lei Wang-Francisco played in her 400th career set for Mizzou in Wednesday's match against Colorado. She has now played in 402 sets as a Tiger, the most among active players. A four-year starter at setter, Wang-Francisco has passed out 4,261 assists in her career, which ranks third all-time at Mizzou.
Block `Em Brit
Sophomore Brittney Brimmage tied her season-best with six total blocks in the Tigers' win over Colorado on Wednesday. Brimmage posted one solo block and five assists to move her season total to 39, averaging 0.81 per set.
Tigers Look to `Can the Huskers'
Now that the Tigers' clash with Nebraska is less than two weeks away, the volleyball program would like to encourage fans to help `Can the Huskers' during that match. Fans will receive free admission with the donation of a canned food item. Last year, more than 500 pounds of food was collected and the Tigers have hopes of doubling that mark this season.
Home, Sweet Hearnes
Mizzou is now 7-0 inside the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center to start the 2009 season. The 7-0 mark is the best home start to a season since 2003, when Mizzou opened 8-0 at Hearnes before falling to Texas. With one more wins, the Tigers will tie that mark and set up a home match with Nebraska on Oct. 17 that will give them a chance for their best home start since 2002, when they opened 9-0 before falling to K-State.
21st Nationally
Averaging 1,519 fans per match this season, Mizzou comes in ranked 21st in the nation in average attendance. That mark ranks them fifth in the Big 12 this season. Mizzou ranks ninth in the nation in average attendance since the Kreklows took over the program 10 seasons ago.
Active in the Community
Over the past several weeks, the Tiger volleyball program has taken time to give back to community. The Tigers visited the MU Children's Hospital last Saturday and mingled with children and their families for hours. After that, Mizzou let nine-year-old Piper Osman celebrate her ninth birthday with 20 of her closest friends inside the Tiger locker room. Mizzou will also host a Girl Scout youth Clinic this Saturday and is currently offering an elementary youth league that runs all month long. The league gives elementary school children a chance to play volleyball at Mizzou before school.
Scouting the Red Raiders
Texas Tech comes into Saturday's match at 2-12 overall and 0-5 in Big 12 play after falling to Baylor on Wednesday. In fact, Texas Tech has lost seven consecutive matches heading into the weekend, three of which came against top-25 opponents. They have yet to play in a five set match this season as well.
Coming into the match, Texas Tech is last in the Big 12 in each of the major statistical categories (hitting percentage, assists, kills, blocks and digs). The Raiders are hitting just .140 as a team while their opponents have hit .278 this season as they average only 10.11 digs per set. Amanda Dowdy leads the team with 139 kills but is hitting just .121 on the season.
Mizzou has won 16 of the last 17 meetings with Texas Tech, including the last 13 matches, as they lead the all-time series, 16-11. All 16 of the Tigers' wins in the series have come since the Kreklows took over the program.
Downright Defensive
The Tigers earned their fifth sweep of the season when knocking off UMKC. In that match, Mizzou limited UMKC to only 39 total points, their best mark of the season, and limited the `Roos to -.065 hitting, their best mark since holding Alabama State to -.250 hitting in the 2006 season-opener.
Quite a Comeback
In MU's against Texas A&M, Mizzou rallied from down 2-0 to top the Aggies, 3-2, in its first five-set match of 2009. The win marked he first time since Oct. 1, 2005, that the Tigers have come back from a 2-0 deficit in a five-set match. The Tigers also limited Texas A&M to a season-low .111 hitting. A&M entered the match hitting a Big 12-best .301.
But Wait, There's More
There were plenty of additional notable stat lines in the Tigers' win over A&M as well. Both Julianna Klein and Paola Ampudia posted a team season-high 19 kills in the match. Klein also posted her fourth double-double of the season as she pitched in 13 digs to go along with her 19 kills. Setter Lei Wang-Francisco also posted a double-double and finished just four blocks shy of a triple-double with 50 assists, a season-best 17 digs and six blocks. Wang-Francisco added another double-double at Baylor with 30 assists and 11 digs.
The Tiger back row shined in the five-set win over A&M as well, pulling in a season-best 96 digs, highlighted by a season-best 29 from libero Caitlyn Vann. Sophomore Priscilla Armendariz posted 21 in the match as well. The pair combined for 50 of the Tigers' 96 digs.
Career Night for Klein
Tiger outside hitter Julianna Klein posted the 1,000th point of her career in the Tigers' win over Texas A&M on her final kill of the match. Klein has the most points among active Tigers and with 253.5 more, she will crack the all-time top 10 career point list at Mizzou. Klein also posted a school-record 78 total attacks in Saturday's match, which is the second-most by a Big 12 attacker this season. Klein set season-highs in six statistical categories in the match.
Return to Sender
In its win over Texas A&M, Mizzou posted a season-high 18.0 total blocks, their best since sending back 14.5 against Texas State in the 2009 opener. The 18.0 total blocks are the second-best mark in the Big 12 this season, trailing only Texas who posted 20.0 in a four-set win over Cal. Senior setter Lei Wang-Francisco led the Tigers with a season-best six total blocks in the match while Catie Wilson, Weiwen Wang and Rosa Medrano each accounted for five in match.
Holding `em In Check
The Tigers had their best defensive match of the season against Texas A&M. The Aggies came into the match leading the Big 12 in hitting at .301 and the Tigers - due in large part to season-highs in total blocks (18.0) an digs (96) - limited A&M to .111 hitting, its worst output of the season. After holding opponents to below .200 hitting only five times in the first 11 matches, the Tigers have now done so in four for the last five matches. Mizzou is 9-0 this season when hitting at a better percentage than its opponents. Mizzou held UMKC and Texas A&M to a combined .055 hitting percentage, highlighted by a -.065 clip by the `Roos. That was the Tigers' best opponent hitting percentage since holding Alabama State to -.250 hitting in the 2006 season-opener.
Big Night for Pip
Sophomore defensive specialist Priscilla Armendariz posted a career-best 21 digs in the Tigers' win over Texas A&M. Armendariz teamed with Caitlyn Vann to pull in 50 digs between the pair, marking the first time this season that two Tigers have hit the 20-dig mark during the same match.
Rookie of the Week Part Deux
Junior Paola Ampudia was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week for the second-consecutive week on September 21, 2009. Ampudia is the first Tiger ever to take home back-to-back Big 12 weekly honors.
A Full-Team Effort
In Mizzou's win over UMKC, every student-athlete on the Tigers' 14-player roster saw action. That was the first time this season that that has happened as two Tigers - Marissa Ferri and Lindsey Petrick - saw their first action in a regular season match this year. Ferri posted her first career dig in the third frame while Petrick entered late in the set and earned her first career solo block and registered three total attacks.
The 700-Club
Team Kreklow (Wayne and Susan together) earned its 700th career win after topping UMKC last week. The 700 combined wins dates back to their time as the head coaching tandem at Columbia College, where they mentored both the men's and women's programs. The pair has won 194 matches in their 10 seasons at Mizzou. With the Tigers' win over Fairfield earlier this season, head coach Wayne Kreklow earned his 400th victory as a head coach. Dating back to his time at Columbia College, where he coached both the men's and women's teams, Kreklow has compiled a 404-108 record as a head coach, including a 350-84 mark coaching women's volleyball. 83 of his 350 wins in women's volleyball have come during his time at Mizzou. For a complete list of Kreklow's coaching records, see page nine.
...It's Wendy's!
Tiger junior Weiwen Wang currently ranks ninth in the Big 12 with a .341 hitting percentage this season. Wang has committed only nine errors on the season while posting 50 kills. At the Michigan/Pepsi Challenge, Wang hit .435 with 12 kills to pace the Tigers in the middle and hit .286 with six kills against Kansas. Wang is averaging 1.61 kills per set this season.
A Well-Spread Attack
For the second time this season, Mizzou had four players hit the double-digit kill mark against Kansas. Julianna Klein, Paola Ampudia, Catie Wilson and Rosa Medrano all finished with 10 or more kills, totaling 16, 15, 12 and 10 respectively, and accounted for 53 of the team's 64 kills. The only other time Mizzou had four players in double-digits was against Utah Valley, when Mizzou posted 70 kills in its four-set win, the second-best kill total by a Big 12 team this season. The 64 kills against KU ranks 11th in the Big 12 this season. Those two marks - 70 and 64 - are the only of the Big 12 top 11 single-match kill totals that came in four sets this season; the other nine were all done in five sets.
An Efficient Attack
Mizzou hit .354 in its four-set win over Utah Valley, its best hitting efficiency of the season in a single match. That mark currently ranks as the second-best team hitting-percentage in a three-set match this season. Six Tigers hit better than .300 in the match while two - Paola Ampudia and Weiwen Wang - hit better than .400. Additionally, in the Tigers' three-set sweep of Ole Miss at the Tiger Invitational, the team hit .333. Five of the Tigers' top six attackers in the match hit better than .286 while Catie Wilson had six kills on seven attacks, hitting at a career-best clip of .857. Mizzou hit better than .333 just twice last season - .337 at Texas Tech (10/4) and .427 against Texas Tech at home (11/1).
Big Night for Brit
Tiger sophomore Brittney Brimmage tallied 13 kills with only one error on 20 swings in the Tigers' four-set loss to No. 17 Utah. That stat line gave Brimmage a .600 hitting percentage in the match, which is the fourth-best single match mark in the Big 12 this season. The .600 clip is also a career-best for Brimmage as she becomes one of only 26 athletes in school history to post a .600 hitting percentage with more than 10 kills.
Ninth Time in Ten Seasons?
Since the Kreklows took over the Mizzou program in 2000, the Tigers have appeared in eight NCAA Tournaments and have ranked amongst the Big 12 and national elite. This season will mark Wayne and Susan Kreklow's 10th year at the helm as they will look to make it nine out of 10 in 2009. The Tigers' best NCAA Tournament run came back in 2005 when they advanced to the NCAA Regional Final after topping Hawaii in the round of 16.
From Colombia to Columbia
Junior transfer Paola Ampudia joins the 2009 Tiger roster after spending two years at Miami Dade Community College. Ampudia, a Cali, Colombia, native, was dubbed Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year by the Big 12's coaches earlier this month. In 2007, Ampudia led Miami Dade to the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) national title game and helped the Sharks to a 30-0 regular season record that season. For her efforts, Ampudia was named NJCAA National Player of the Year as she ranked in the nation's top 10 in both hitting efficiency (.578) and kills per set (3.85).
All-Access Video and Radio
Be sure to follow the Tiger volleyball program all season long on www.mutigers.com. The matches will be streamed live on Mizzou All-Access and KCOU, Mizzou's student radio station, will provide play-by-play of each home match over the video. Also, all Big 12 road matches will be available for radio streaming on www.mutigers.com.
Tigers on Television
Mizzou will play in two more matches that will be televised this season - at Kansas State on Oct. 14 and at Nebraska on Nov. 4. The match against Kansas State will air on FSN-Kansas City. The Tigers' match with Nebraska will air in Lincoln, Neb., on Nebraska Education Television.
Next Up
Mizzou will return to the road next week as they take on Kansas State in Manhattan on Wednesday. The Tigers then return home for a showdown with Nebraska on Saturday.
