Volleyball wins second straight

The volleyball team recovered from losses in games three and four.

By Sam Wilson

Published Oct. 5, 2007

After the Tigers took the first two games from Colorado 30-20 and 30-19 on Wednesday night, a sweep of the Buffaloes was a possibility at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo. But despite winning, members of the Missouri volleyball team say the 10-minute break between the second and third game is not its best part of the match.

"After we come out in game three, one, we're cooled down, and then two, it's kind of like we have a cushion, so we kind of relax instead of just slamming the door on the team," senior libero Tatum Ailes said.

The Tigers did not slam the door on the Buffaloes and lost games three and four 26-30 and 28-30. But the team recovered to win game five 15-9. Freshman Weiwen Wang had 19 kills and a school record 13 blocks. Her 19 kills are a Missouri record for a single match without recording an error.

"I'm really excited about that," she said. "And about the records, I just do my job to play my best to win the game."

Various changes to the lineup earlier in the year had moved Wang from her natural position of middle blocker. But Wednesday night, she was back in the middle.

"Initially when we moved her to the outside, we knew she had a pretty good arm and was a pretty good hitter," coach Wayne Kreklow said. "What we've found is taking her out of the middle and putting other people in kind of gave us a little bit of something on the outside. But I don't think she really felt comfortable out there."

Members of the team said Wang's performance would help for the rest of the season, because it would force other teams to respect the team's balance.

"It was really good to establish our middle because a lot of people just camp on our outsides," Ailes said. "And last night with Wendy, it gave her an opportunity to have a career night because everybody just camps on our outsides."

When the Tigers play host to Texas Tech on Saturday, Ailes said she doesn't expect the Red Raiders to camp out against the outside hitters.

"They'll probably watch our game film and see that we used our middle a lot, we used our right side a lot and we used our outsides," she said. "So they've got to stay honest with every hitter, and that only opens a lot of opportunities for every hitter to be one on one."

Kreklow said he is preparing to face teams that are expecting a diverse attack.

"What we have to do is just keep trying to get better at all phases of the game," he said. "Knowing that they're going to be more aware of the middle."

Although the newly diverse offense has been key in the team's two-match winning streak, sophomore middle blocker Amanda Hantouli said it is not the only reason for the success.

"Defense is huge," she said. "We have an amazing back row, and it makes our job in the front row a lot easier."

Kreklow said the team is more confident after two Big 12 wins but not too confident.

"I kind of like the mindset right now," he said. "I think everybody's feeling good about winning."