Oct. 14, 2008

Complete News & Notes in PDF Format | Live Webcast | GameTracker | Border Showdown Series

COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri volleyball team (8-9, 2-5 Big 12) hosts Kansas (8-8, 2-5 Big 12) on Wednesday in the Hearnes Center for the first event of the M&I Bank Border Showdown Series. The match will be aired on Mizzou Sports Network affiliates MetroSports in Kansas City and Fox Sports Midwest. Patrons can gain admission into the match for only $1.

The Border Showdown Series Begins!
Wednesday’s volleyball match kicks off the 2008-09 M&I Bank Border Showdown Series, pitting Mizzou and Kansas in a school-year long department-wide contest. Now beginning its seventh year of existence, Missouri has won the past two, and three of the last four, series titles. Mizzou won the mulit-sport tussle 24-15 last year, clinching victory with a solid showing by spring sports – women’s tennis and softball with sweeping victories.

On the volleyball court, the Tigers and the Jayhawks split its last two matches with the road team claiming victory in both five-set matches. Mizzou is 22-10 versus KU in Columbia and has won seven of eight of its last overall meetings, holding a 45-32 overall, all-time advantage.

Wednesday’s match is worth 1.5 points in the multi-sport series with the October 29 matchup in Lawrence also worth 1.5 points.

Here’s the upcoming Border Showdown Series schedule (series pts. awarded):
October 15, Volleyball in Columbia (1.5)
October 29, Volleyball in Lawrence (1.5)
October 31, Soccer in Columbia (3)
November 1, Women’s Swimming & Diving in Columbia (1.5)
November 1, Cross Country at Big 12 Championships in Ames (men-1, women-1)
November 29, Football in Kansas City (3)
  
AAARGHHH! Three Matches in Six Days!
Sunday’s match with No. 2 Nebraska kicked off a very busy week for the Mizzou volleyball team. After playing Kansas Wednesday, the Tigers quickly turn around to face No. 3 Texas in Austin Friday night. Good news is that a four-day break awaits the team before they host Colorado on October 22.

Scouting Kansas …
The Kansas Jayhawks are coming into town to face off against the Tigers on Wednesday. The teams have matching 2-5 Big 12 records and have gotten their two conference wins off the same teams, Iowa State and Texas Tech.  The Jayhawks just got off a tough loss to Texas A&M where they fought back from being down to sets to none only to lose the fifth set and the match. The Kansas team also managed to win a set against the No. 2 Nebraska squad, the No. 3 Texas squad and two sets from the No. 15 Kansas State squad.

The Jayhawks sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington has 117 kills which is almost double the amount of kills as the second highest on the team, 64 kills. Much like Juliana Klein for the Tigers, Garlington is Kansas’ go-to attacker taking 304 shots in seven Big 12 games. Melissa Grieb a junior defensive specialist/libero leads Kansas with nine aces and 64 digs.

A critical statistic that the Tigers may be able to exploit is the amount of attack errors the Jayhawks have committed this year. In conference play Kansas has already 193 errors compared to Missouri’s 136. The Tigers also have a slight edge on digs. Mizzou has 501 in Big 12 play and 17.89 coming per game while Kansas only has 394 and averaging 12.31 a game.

-- Dana Burton

Last Time We Met … Mizzou wins 3-2 in Lawrence, October 27, 2007
The Missouri Tiger volleyball squad (13-9, 6-7 Big 12) pulled off a classic Border Showdown match with Kansas (10-13, 3-10 Big 12) Saturday in Lawrence, winning 30-32, 30-22, 33-31, 26-30, 15-12, in one of the longest matches in Mizzou history. Senior Tatum Ailes, playing in her 111th career match, (Bellevue, Neb.) became the first Tiger in Mizzou history to record 100 career matches with 10-or-more digs, nabbing a season-high 32 to lead the Tigers on the afternoon. Ailes also had two aces and an improbable pancake dig in the fifth set that stymied a Kansas run.

As a result of this weekend’s point gains by the Tiger cross country and women’s swimming teams, with the volleyball win, Mizzou takes a 5-1.5 advantage in the 2007-08 Border Showdown with Kansas.

Sophomore Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) recorded her second career triple-double, scoring 10 kills while adding 45 assists, 11 digs and six blocks.

Offensively, the Tigers were again led by senior Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) who scored 22 kills on .310 hitting, tallying a season-high 16 digs and five blocks for her fifth double-double of the season and the 18th of her career. In total, six Tigers scored double-digit kill totals with freshman Weiwen Wang notching 15 and Amanda Hantouli and Catie Wilson contributing 12. Megan Wilson and Lei Wang also added 10 on the day.

Hantouli also had a career-high eight blocks on the afternoon as the Tigers scored on 19 team blocks.

Mizzou dropped the first frame, 32-30, nearly coming back from an eight-point deficit and a scoring error that had the teams change benches prematurely.

Last Time Out … Nebrasaka, Sunday
The Missouri volleyball team (8-9, 2-4 Big 12) took on No. 2 Nebraska (17-0, 8-0 Big 12) at the Hearnes Center Sunday afternoon in front of 3,057 Tiger fans and a national-television audience watching on many FSN affiliates. The Cornhuskers swept the match 25-20, 25-21, 25-18 and continued their undefeated season. Sophomore Julianna Klein led the Tiger squad with 16 kills.

Coach Wayne Kreklow remained optimistic after the match, “Overall, I thought the team played very well. Losing is never the outcome we want; the end result was not good. But, I was impressed with our effort, there were a couple of times in each set where if we had gotten a couple of points, a couple of blocks, the set could have gone either way.”

After hitting .324 in the first set, the Tigers succumbed to unforced errors, resulting in a .165 average for the match, compared to the Huskers’ .316. Mizzou did keep the Huskers in check during the second set holding them to .196 hitting percentage as defense and long rallies ruled, but the Tigers did not capitalize.

Juliana Klein (Keota, Iowa) continued to be the most-consistent Mizzou player. She had 43 attempts, 16 kills and a hitting percent of .256. Kreklow expressed some concern in the amount of times to team put the ball in Klein’s hands, “You don’t want to have a player taking 43 swings at the ball. When that happens your offense becomes predictable. Right now we are continuing to use Juliana a lot because she’s our most consistent hitter.”

Klein also weighed in on her high number of attempts, “I think it can become an issue if the other team is expecting me to get the ball ever other time but as long as our blockers are split and our defense sets to me it is not a problem.”

Klein tallied another double-double in adding 10 digs. Frosh Annie Lopez (St. Louis, Mo) tallied a team-high 14 digs.

Brittney Brimmage (East St. Louis, Ill.) had four kills in a limited timeframe, but they came at crucial points in the third set to keep the Tigers close. Setter Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) scored a double-double with 23 assists and ten digs.

Sophomore outside hitter, Tara Mueller led the Huskers with 14 kills with a .364 hitting percentage.

 

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.”

Now, in this 2008 campaign, Klein is leading the Tigers in kills and has had her share of digs, as she, for the first time in ANY point in her career, is playing the full-rotational circuit.

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.”

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.”

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 the set becomes quickly out of hand.

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.

Vann Earns Second Big 12 Honor … September 22
The Big 12 office announced on September 22 that Missouri sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) was named as the league’s volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for week of September 14-20, marking the second time that she won the honor in a span of three weeks. Vann posted a Big 12-leading 7.25 digs per set in matches against Oklahoma (Sept. 17) and Baylor (Sept. 21).  She combined for 58 digs -- 33 at Oklahoma and 25 versus Baylor -- in the Tigers’ two losses Vann was also perfect in 23 service reception attempts on the week, all in the match against the Bears. 

As Maneater reporter Ross Taylor put it, “Sophomore libero Caitlyn Vann was nothing short of fantastic, or ‘Vann-tastic,’ a term coined by several Missouri fans to yell following her serves. […]

“With Missouri trailing 20-19 in the third set [against Baylor], Vann changed the match's momentum with a ridiculously athletic play. Diving to her right, Vann dug a well-struck ball with one arm. The ball carried over the net and landed in between six frozen Baylor defenders, helping Missouri salvage the third set.”

Vann becomes only the third Tiger to earn conference player of the week honors twice in the same season. The last was Jessica Vander Kooi who earned the award twice in September 2006.

Vann Named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week … September 8
Missouri sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) was named as the Big 12’s volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for the week of September 1-7. Vann, collecting her first league honor, helped the Tigers to a 2-1 record in the Spring Hill Suites at Arundel Mills Invitational in College Park, Md., on September 5-6, collecting 58 digs on the weekend (5.27 dps) including a Big 12 and career-high 34 in a five-set win over St. John’s.

Mizzou swept host Maryland on that Friday and won a 59-tie, 27-lead-change thriller over St. John’s, a 2007 NCAA regional semifinalist, on that Saturday. Kentucky, a 2007 NCAA-Tournament team, handed the Tigers its only loss in the tourney on that Saturday morning.

Vann, the team’s libero, also had double-digit dig totals in the sweep of Maryland (13) and against Kentucky (11).

Vann leads the Big 12 by a wide margin with 5.21 digs per set so far this season. Texas’ Heather Kisner is next on the roll with 4.50 dps. Vann is also in the nation’s top 20 in the category.

Sophomore Julianna Klein was named to the All-Tournament team at Maryland, leading Mizzou with 4.00 kills per set.

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