Tigers win sloppy match over Colorado

The Tigers responded after tough loss against Texas on the road.

By Ross Taylor

Published Oct. 24, 2008

Despite a statistically ugly evening, the Missouri volleyball team inched up the Big 12 standings with a 3-0 sweep of Colorado.

Missouri (10-10, 4-6 Big 12) defeated Colorado (10-9, 4-6) 25-18, 25-23 and 25-17 at the Hearnes Center on Wednesday despite hitting only .161 as a team.

The win's importance transcended into the standings, as Missouri also responded to being "shell shocked" in a 3-0 loss to No. 3 Texas in Austin last week, coach Wayne Kreklow said.

Both Missouri and Colorado were sloppy early, with the teams trading 11 consecutive side outs to begin the match. Missouri took its first lead at 12-11 and rode the momentum to a 10-point lead.

"We looked pretty sluggish. We just had to work through that," Kreklow said.

However, Missouri didn't necessarily cruise to the first set win after working out the kinks. Leading 24-14, Colorado saved four set points before Missouri finally secured the set.

The star of the set was junior Megan Wilson, the often inconsistent outside hitter whose .111 hitting percentage entering the match ranked last among Missouri hitters. Wilson went 4-of-7 in the set with no errors for a .571 hitting percentage.

Wilson benefited from the team's commitment to distributing the ball better amongst its hitters.

"With the middles getting up and contributing, that leaves me one-on-one, and I've learned how to hit around that," Wilson said.

Kreklow and junior setter Lei Wang said Missouri consciously went away from sophomore hitter Julianna Klein, who is generally Missouri's workhorse, early in the match to throw off Colorado's game plan.

"This is just the nature of playing a double round in conference. Right now, everybody has every match, everybody else's plays on video," Kreklow said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when you play Mizzou, you've got to key in on Klein. And that's what people are starting to do."

As a result, Lei distributed the ball around, trying to involve multiple Missouri hitters. Lei, who also consciously tried to get involved offensively with tips, finished with 34 assists and five kills.

Lei utilized a lot of middle sets in the first set to try to alleviate blocking leverage on Klein on the outside.

"They were going to go outside first, so I went to the middle to try to get some pressure off the outside," Lei said.

Missouri took the second set, 25-23. The set featured only one lead change, but it came at a crucial time. Colorado led for 43 of the set's 48 points but couldn't finish what it started, as Missouri took its first lead of the set on a Colorado four-hit violation to make the score 23-22.

But Missouri's response in the third set pleased Kreklow most. Throughout the season, Missouri has failed to put away teams when leading 2-0. During the break, Kreklow stressed the importance of putting away Colorado early.

"That's exactly what we talked about - coming out and shutting the door," Klein said.