Oct. 16, 2008

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Gregory Gym, UT Campus

COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri volleyball team (9-9, 3-5 Big 12) will join the Tiger football team in Austin Friday as they will face the No. 3 volleyball Longhorns (13-2, 7-1 Big 12) in a 6:30 p.m., matchup in Gregory Gym, two blocks from where the two football dynamos will take to the field Saturday. The Tigers are coming off Wednesday’s big win over rival Kansas and will soon end the first half of the Big 12 season.

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.

Schedule Note: Time Set for Next Saturday’s Iowa State Match
Those curious about the start time for Mizzou’s match at Iowa State next Saturday will be happy to know that first serve is slated for 2 p.m., in Ames. Iowa State hosts Texas A&M in football for its homecoming at 6 p.m., that same day.

Road Match Audio Drawing Numbers
Yahoo! Sports, the carriers of Mizzou volleyball’s live audio stream of conference road contests, forwarded their listenership numbers to us the other day, and the results were encouraging. For the two September road conference matches (9/17 at Oklahoma and 9/24 at Texas Tech), the website reports that the volleyball streams received 9,579 hits to either the live stream or archive of the match call. These numbers are very good considering that it is a subscription based service.

Yahoo! Sports also carries live audio of Mizzou football and men’s and women’s basketball. For the month of September, Mizzou football received 84,049 hits, meaning that over 10% of the Mizzou Yahoo! listenership in the month of September came from volleyball.

The on-air commentators for each of Mizzou’s road matches are comprised entirely of Mizzou pre-journalism or communication students that currently have either freshmen or sophomore standing.

Scouting Texas …
The No. 3 Longhorns are definitely a force to be reckoned with as evidenced by its 13-2 overall standing and 7-1 Big 12 record. Texas’ only losses came in five sets versus top-five Stanford in the AVCA Showcase in Omaha in August and a four-set loss to Nebraska in Lincoln on September 20.

Other than that, the Longhorns have been nothing short of dominate in conference play, notching a conference-leading .351 hitting percentage with only Nebraska’s .277 coming within shouting distance.

Although Texas has a freshman setter, Michelle Kocher, who is leading the Big 12 with 12.03 assists per set, they still several, several offensive weapons in the tackle box to handle the job efficiently. Junior OH Destinee Hooker leads UT and the league with 4.52 kills per set in conference play. Hooker, a multiple-time NCAA high jump champion, also is seventh in the league in hitting percentage at .341. Senior MB Lauren Paolini leads about every on the Planet Earth with a .591 hitting average in league games. Two-time first team All-Big 12 member Ashley Engle, a junior RS, also pitches in 2.83 kills per set. AND, the Longhorns have the AVCA’s National Freshman of the Year from 2007, OH Juliann Faucette adding 3.00 kills per set.

The Kreklows are 10-6 against Texas, finding the most success against UT in Columbia. However, the Tigers haven’t claimed victory in Austin since 2002.

Last Time We Met … Mizzou lost 3-0 in Columbia, October 20, 2007
The Missouri Tiger volleyball team (12-8, 5-6 Big 12) endured another heartbreaking loss in game one that turned into a disappointing three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Longhorns (14-3, 10-1 Big 12). The Tigers fell in the match 29-31, 17-30, 22-30 for their second consecutive loss, both against ranked opponents, since getting back to .500 in conference play earlier in the month. The win was the tenth straight for Texas, a season high for the squad. It was also the first win at the Hearnes Center for the Longhorns since 1999, breaking a seven-game losing streak in Columbia.

The Longhorns had five girls who recorded nine kills or more, including 11 from Ashley Engle and 20 from Juliann Faucette. Engle also notched 12 digs for a double-double. The Longhorns recorded 23 blocks between six players, with Lauren Paolini leading the way with six.

For Missouri, Na Yang (Shan Dong, China) had an impressive night with 19 kills and five digs, while Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) threw down 10 kills of her own. Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) finished the night with 28 assists and nine digs, one short of a double-double. Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb.) led the Tigers defensively with five blocks to go along with her five kills.

Last Time Out … Kansas, Wednesday
The Missouri volleyball team (9-9, 3-5 Big 12) looked to end their three-match losing streak in taking down Kansas (8-9, 2-6 Big 12) Wednesday night in the first installment of the M&I Bank Border Showdown Series. Missouri did just that winning in four sets, 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, and 25-19. Sophomore Julianna Klein (Keota, Iowa) led all scorers with 19 kills.

The softer side of Juliana Klein (Keota, Iowa) came out in tonight’s match, as a large number of her 63 attacks and her kills came off soft finesses shots. Klein’s serving was still on point, however, and did not lack any of her typical power. Klein also avoided any service errors and tallied one ace.

Sophomore Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.) again had a spectacular night, racking 26 digs to frustrate the Kansas frontline.

Lei Wang (Shanghai, China) and Amanda Hantouli (Omaha, Neb) were on their defensive game going up together for a team-leading four blocks. Other team leaders were Weiwen Wang (Nanjing, China) with .438 hitting percent with a tied-career-high 16 kills and Hantouli with a .400 hitting percentage, scoring 12 kills on just 20 attempts. Overall the team outhit Kansas .274-.233.

Kansas was led by Karina Garlington’s 17 kills.

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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