Volleyball wins in five

By Ross Taylor

Published Oct. 2, 2008

With its setter cramping, its momentum gone and its lineup being shuffled, the Missouri volleyball team rallied to defeat Iowa State in five sets, 25-15, 25-15, 16-25, 22-25, 15-7 on Wednesday at the Hearnes Center.

Missouri (8-6, 2-2 Big 12) played like two different teams as the match progressed. The Tigers thoroughly dominated Iowa State (9-7, 1-4) in the first two sets, but began to fall apart in surrendering the third and fourth sets before salvaging the fifth.

“I was really pleased in game five that we are able to kind of dig the heels in and just (say) ‘that’s as far as we go,’” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “I was really proud of the fact they were able to do that, although it’s a pretty dangerous thing to do.”           

Much like they did in their match against SIU-Edwardsville, the Tigers asserted themselves in the first set against Iowa State.

Missouri never trailed in the set, bolstered by a string of seven consecutive points on junior Lei Wang’s serve. Every Wang serve was greeted by chants of “O Lei, O Lei, O Lei, O Lei,” a pun on Wang’s first name and a famous “Ole” soccer chant of the same pronunciation.

By unofficial count, at least nine of Missouri’s 25 first-set points came on Wang’s serve. Wang finished the match with 55 assists and two aces, an effort Kreklow called “remarkable.”

The effort became even more remarkable after the match, as Wang admitted to cramping during the latter half of the match. But despite the cramps, when it came time for the fifth set, Wang and her Missouri teammates pulled together.

“We showed the guts that, maybe, Iowa State didn’t show,” Wang said. “We just keep pushing, keep pushing until they’re down.”

Early on, a lot of Missouri’s success centered on its containment of Iowa State’s weapons.

After the first two sets, ISU’s Jen Malcom, who is fifth in the Big 12 in hitting percentage in conference games, only hit .074. Kaylee Manns, who ranked fourth in the Big 12 in assists per set in conference games, was held to 12 assists after averaging nearly 12 per set in her previous matches.

The third and fourth sets were certainly forgettable for Missouri, though. A collection of Iowa State block-kills, Missouri service errors and two-hits changed the match’s complexion. The rough sets were most evident in the play of offhand junior hitter Megan Wilson, who struggled and was spelled on several occasions by little-used junior Lauren Nuckolls.

But in the fifth set, Wilson was in on several key blocks and had two important kills.

“Megan’s got to be able to do that because Megan’s one of the more physical players we have,” Kreklow said. “For her to be able to bounce back and come back in and really do a good job in game five, that was big.”