Hantouli key to Tiger success

By Sam Wilson

Published Nov. 6, 2007

Sophomore middle blocker Amanda Hantouli had a career-high 15 kills on Friday. After the match, she said she was unaware of what she had accomplished.

"I didn't know I did that," she said. "But that's pretty cool."

Toward the front of Hantouli's mind was the team's five-game victory earlier that night against the Baylor Bears.

Coach Wayne Kreklow attributed her production to minimizing unforced errors.

"That's really been her Achilles' heel," Kreklow said. "She'd make a great play, another great play and then hit a ball into the net, and then two more great plays and another ball out of bounds. I felt like the last three, four weeks, she has done a really nice job of just playing at a nice steady level."

Hantouli had just four errors on Friday. She finished with a hitting percentage of .344. She said her unforced errors in the past had come from thinking too much.

"A lot of it just comes with practice," she said. "Because when you're in the middle, it's so fast that you don't really have a whole lot of time to think 'OK, I can't do this, I can't do this, so I better do this.'"

Senior outside hitter Na Yang led the team with 29 kills on Friday.

This mark was the best this season for any Big 12 player. Kreklow said Hantouli's performance has helped open up the offense for Yang.

"When she (Hantouli) can do that for us, it just provides another option and it makes it more difficult to just camp out on her (sophomore Megan Wilson) and particularly Na," Kreklow said.

Hantouli wasn't the only Tiger middle blocker to have a double-figure night.

Freshman Weiwen Wang had 12 kills on a .333 hitting percentage.

"Weiwen's doing amazing," Hantouli said. "Even though she's smaller for the league that we're in, she has such a quick arm swing. We take advantage of that by setting her extremely fast."

Kreklow said that Wang, who stands just six feet tall compared to Hantouli at six feet two inches, is a contrast that throws other teams off.

"They're polar opposites in terms of style," Kreklow said. "Wendy is small but quick and fast, the tempo is much different. Amanda is bigger and rangier. It's hard to get into a nice, comfortable rhythm when you're playing against those two."

Wang said she thinks her performance was not bad on Friday but feels she has issues to work on.

"I'm too close to the net so I can't get a nice shot," she said.

Yang said she feels that both middle blockers did their jobs on Friday.

"Their jobs are more important than mine," she said. "Because if they can hold the middle, everything will be

easier."

Sophomore setter Lei Wang said she agrees the two are very different players but said she doesn't have time to consider which one she's setting to.

"It doesn't matter who's tall or who's fast," she said. "I've just got to set anyway."