Volleyball beats Iowa State, heads into Nebraska 7-1
It is ranked No. 15, its highest ranking since the second week of the season.
Published Oct. 10, 2006
The Missouri volleyball team continued its dominance in conference play, winning its seventh conference match in a row against the Iowa State Cyclones.
The Tigers (13-4, 7-1 Big 12) beat the Cyclones on Saturday, 30-26, 34-32, 30-22 — it was MU's 19th straight win over Iowa State.
With the victory, the Tigers moved up to No. 15 in this week's national rankings, the highest ranking since the second week of the season.
Freshman hitter Julianna Klein led MU with 15 kills in her first return to her home state as a Tiger.
Klein, a native of Keota, Iowa, hit .345 for the match. Missouri coach Wayne Kreklow said he was happy with Klein's play.
"We needed a performance like that from her," he said on Monday after practice. "She's been playing very well of late."
Klein's performance helped bail out senior outside hitter Jessica Vander Kooi, who had just eight kills.
It was only the sixth time in 106 matches that she hadn't reached double digits in kills.
Kreklow attributed the Hinton, Iowa, native's struggles to the pressure of playing in her home state.
"Jessica is from Iowa, and this is the last match of her career in the state," he said. "I think she pressed a lot."
Missouri out-hit the Cyclones .204 to .156.
A team's hitting percentage roughly measures its overall offensive efficiency — the higher the percentage, the more efficient a team's offense is.
Nicole Wilson had 14 kills for the Tigers, and junior Na Yang had 12.
The Tigers are heading into their toughest match of the season.
MU will face the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers Wednesday night at the Hearnes Center.
The Tigers have a dismal 3-61-1 all-time record against the Huskers, including a 1977 split in Madison, Wis., that ended after only two games.
MU's last win against the Huskers came in 2003 in Lincoln, Neb.
The team has not beaten Nebraska at home since 1982.
Kreklow said the team feels buoyed from its earlier upset win over then-No. 5 Texas last month.
"What that match showed, and what we can take into the Nebraska match, is that you have to play the game to win," he said. "On paper, we were supposed to lose to Texas, but you never know."
Kreklow said after the Texas match that the Longhorns were "rattled" during the match, something he doesn't expect out of Nebraska.
"They will play better," he said. "I don't expect the Huskers to be off their game at all."