Kansas State takes close match in volleyball
Nov. 19, 2008
With four games remaining on their schedule, the Missouri Tigers faced a crucial game at home against No. 13 Kansas State on Wednesday night. The Tigers took the Wildcats to five sets but ultimately dropped the match 3-2.
“What hurts is having opportunities but not being able to capitalize,” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “I was really proud of our kids and the way they battled. But it seemed like the story of the night was put ourselves in the position, but then not be able to finish.”
Missouri had an excellent chance to knock off one of the top teams in the country, while at the same time solidifying their chances to make a ninth-straight NCAA Tournament.
The match started off with a Tigers victory, 25-21. Missouri jumped out to an 11-5 lead on the Wildcats. But just a few points later, the Wildcats closed the lead to 17-16. However, the Tigers recovered in time to go up on Kansas State 1-0.
Game two was not as kind to Missouri. The Wildcats easily outhit the Tigers — .286 to .050 — on their way to a 25-19 victory. MU got off to another great start and took a 6-2 lead, and forced Kansas State to take a timeout. The break seemed to work for the Big 12 rival, as they went on a 9-0 run to go up 11-6. That spree boosted gave the Wildcats the cushion they needed, as Missouri could not manage to close the gap.
“In both (games) one and three I think we were ready to go right at the beginning,” Kreklow said. “In both two and four, we started off with a number of hitting and passing errors. We just started off those games really slow. We seem to have trouble coming off a win and starting again.”
But Missouri put the slow second game behind them at the start of the third set. Again, Missouri dominated from the get-go. This time, however, they were able to keep the momentum. After three big blocks, the Tigers found themselves with a 7-1 lead. The team seemed to gain confidence as the set progressed and the crowd grew louder. Missouri took the third set 25-12, and went up two games to one on the Wildcats.
“K-State has a really hard time handling our fast tempo, which originates from the middle,” junior middle blocker Amanda Hantouli said. “So that was our goal the whole time, to make sure that that happened.”
The fourth game took the wind out of Missouri’s sail. Unable to carry the momentum from the previous set, the Tigers fell into an early 7-2 hole. While they battled back to tie the score at 19, Missouri could not complete the comeback and dropped the set 25-20.
“My feeling is the match was lost in game four,” Kreklow said. “That’s where we had an opportunity, and we just didn’t capitalize. We set ourselves up, at home, in game four, but we came out really flat.”
As with the previous games, the fifth set was exciting. After falling behind 4-1, the Tigers came back to tie the score at 11. But Kansas State proved to be too much and took the final set 15-12, and the match 3-2.
“We played the number 13 team in the nation and should have beaten them,” junior middle blocker Megan Wilson said. “We have to take the confidence we had in this game and just keep stepping up.”
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