Volleyball season ends with loss
Published Dec. 5, 2006
After spending more than a day at the Lambert-St. Louis Airport, the Tigers finally made it to their regional in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday and celebrated by upsetting No. 21 Santa Clara, before falling to No. 2 Stanford on Sunday night to end MU's season.
MU (18-13) seemingly had a pretty easy time with the Santa Clara Broncos on Saturday night, sweeping them 35-33, 30-24, 30-26. Junior Na Yang had 18 kills and a .372 hitting percentage. The only other Tiger in double figures for kills was senior Jessica Vander Kooi, who had 12.
Although the Tigers' .257 hitting percentage wasn't spectacular, they out-blocked the Broncos 12.5 to two for the night.
Junior Tatum Ailes said Missouri won the opening match because it came out with intensity and aggression.
"We were all over the floor on Saturday," she said Monday after landing in St. Louis. "Emotion carried us the whole way."
The Tigers gave their all the next night, pushing the Stanford Cardinal to their limit. The Cardinal would have been the highest-ranked opponent MU had ever beaten, but it held off Missouri and won 30-20, 27-30, 30-24, 25-30, 15-9.
Down two games to one, MU rallied from down 16-10 in the fourth game to tie the match, and then pulled out a 30-25 win. But the Tigers fell behind in the fifth game 7-2, and even though they rallied to tie the game at 8-8, the Cardinal took the game and match 15-9. The Tigers hit just .182 in the deciding game.
After the match that ended his season, MU coach Wayne Kreklow was far from upset with his team's effort.
"I couldn't be more proud of our team," he said. "We competed and played well. Overall, I thought it was a great collegiate volleyball match. Neither team played with a lot of errors."
Vander Kooi, who ended her career with 18 kills and 14 digs, was also positive.
"It's been fun," she said. "We did everything we could and played hard to the finish."
Senior Nicole Wilson also played her final match, and added 15 kills. Redshirt freshman Amanda Hantouli added 14.
Ailes had a fantastic match at libero with 29 digs. But she alone couldn't stop Stanford's Kristin Richards and Foluke Akinradewo, who combined for 48 kills.
After the match ended, Ailes wasn't upset with how she or her team played.
"I'm happy, we gave it our all," she said. "I'm satisfied with our effort against a team like Stanford."
With the season over, Ailes now assumes a leadership role as a rising senior. She said she had already begun to think about next season on the flight home. Ailes and Yang will be the only two seniors on the 2007 team.
"I've just been talking to some of the seniors," she said. "I've never been in a leadership role like this since high school. I think we have a lot to work on. It's all about maturing and picking back up getting ready to go again next year."