TV spotlights tough stretch for volleyball

The team must continue focusing on consistency, coach says.

By Ross Taylor

Published Oct. 13, 2008

Any time Nebraska comes to Columbia, it's a big deal. Throw in a multi-market TV broadcast on Fox Sports Net during a brutal conference stretch for the MU volleyball team, and it gets even bigger.

The team's three-set loss to Nebraska on Sunday was the second of three consecutive televised matches for Missouri, having lost a four-setter to Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., on FSN Kansas City on Oct. 8.

The Tiger's next match is at home this Wednesday, when they face rival Kansas for a Mizzou Sports Network broadcast.

The television stretch arguably could not have come at a tougher time for the Tigers. Sophomore outside hitter Julianna Klein said that, from time to time, the team peeks at the schedule for probable wins.

"I think we all do that - I've caught myself doing it," Klein said. "We've got to focus more on us as a team than who we're playing or what the other teams were doing."

Missouri entered the stretch with a 2-3 record in Big 12 play before its matches with Kansas State and Nebraska, ranked No. 16 and No. 2 in the nation, respectively. The teams were two of three Big 12 squads represented in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll. Missouri now sits at 2-5 in conference play.

But the end of a tough and televised streak does not mean the rough road is behind the team. On Friday, MU travels to face No. 3 Texas.

The gauntlet of a schedule makes the margin of error for Missouri's bid for a ninth-straight NCAA Tournament berth grow smaller with every match. The squad's fate should be largely determined by a five-match stretch that begins after the Texas game and before a Nov. 12 trip to Lincoln, Neb.

"In this conference, it's a tough league," coach Wayne Kreklow said. "It's easy to get caught up in where you stand in the win-loss column. You really can't do that. We've really got to stay focused on what we're doing."

The focus continues to stay on consistency. For instance, on Wednesday, sophomore Catie Wilson led Missouri with 12 kills on .385 hitting. Saturday, Wilson finished with zero kills on seven swings with three errors, good for a hitting percentage of -.429.

But the matches against tough competition have served as a way for the team to better evaluate itself.

"It's showing us what we can do and what we have the potential to do," junior middle blocker Amanda Hantouli said. "Again, though, it's the consistency thing. You have to buckle down mentally."

But with Missouri behind the 8-ball in conference play, the Tigers can't really afford to start looking at the schedule for later wins.

"We have to take it one match at a time," Hantouli said. "And then it breaks down from there between one ball at a time, one pass at a time, one rally at a time."