Tigers win 'biggie' against Jayhawks

By Ross Taylor

Published Oct. 17, 2008

In a match between two teams with identical 2-5 Big 12 records, the Missouri volleyball team came away with a key conference win Wednesday against Kansas.

The Tigers beat the Jayhawks 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 25-19 at the Hearnes Center.

"It was a biggie," coach Wayne Kreklow said.

The win moves Missouri to 9-9 overall and 3-5 in conference play. Missouri concludes a brutal stretch of games Friday against No. 3 Texas in Austin, Missouri's third match in six days.

Missouri established itself as the aggressor early in the match. After Kansas (8-9, 2-6 Big 12) held brief leads at 3-2 and 4-3, Missouri shored up its net play and rode multiple block kills to a 25-20 first set win.

Near the end of the second set, Missouri's bravado began to show.

Leading 20-15 in the second set, junior Amanda Hantouli block-killed a Jayhawk swing and high-stepped back to her teammates in celebration. On the next point, sophomore Julianna Klein pounded a kill between Kansas defenders and slowly walked back to her teammates with a sly grin on her face.

The plays helped energized an already loud Hearnes Center crowd, which responded with an "M-I-Z, Z-O-U" chant two points later. A raucous crowd of 2,006 bolstered Missouri all night.

"To get a crowd going like this, it takes everybody," Kreklow said. "The players have to do something to get the crowd excited about. It makes a difference. They provided energy down the stretch when our kids needed it."

Kansas forced the match to four sets with a 25-21 third set win. The set's complexion changed at 8-8, when junior setter Lei Wang and sophomore Weiwen Wang had a miscommunication that gave Kansas the lead.

Lei set a highball to the center of the court and Weiwen jumped but did not swing, looking like she expected an outside hitter behind her to finish the ball. The ball fell to the floor, and Missouri never led in the rest of the set.

But Missouri wrapped up its third Big 12 victory in the fourth set thanks to Klein's clutch hitting. Leading 21-19 in the fourth set, Klein had three consecutive kills before a Lei kill finished the match.

"I expect the ball to come to me no matter what," Klein said. "I know I can put the ball away."

Missouri, statistically one of the Big 12's worst blocking teams, out-blocked Kansas 9.5-5.0 in the match. Missouri is now 2-0 in conference matches when out-blocking the opponent and 1-5 when Big 12 opponents have out-blocked MU.

Discipline in blocking was a big point of emphasis for Missouri in practice during the week.

"We had to be faster closing and don't swing our hands everywhere," Weiwen said. "It works in practice, it worked in the game."

The win helps keep Missouri's bid for a ninth-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth alive.

"Everybody thinks about it. It's not something we're talking about," Kreklow said. "We've all been through it before, we know it's out there. But in order to get where we're going, we've got to pay attention to what's going on right in front of us."

What was right in front of Missouri on Wednesday was a chance to make a statement on its home floor.

"These are the kind of matches, if you want to make the tournament, you've got to protect your home court," Kreklow said.