Volleyball team answers offseason questions

Coach Wayne Kreklow said the offseason focus was the little things.

By Ross Taylor

Published Aug. 26, 2008

The women's volleyball team finished last year's season with several question marks. Friday night, after improvements in the offseason, the public got a first glimpse at the answers.

The team played its annual Black and Gold match, a three-set intra-squad exhibition, in front of 1,475 people. The match gave coach Wayne Kreklow a chance to evaluate his squad after an offseason of preaching the little things.

"I could go right down player-by-player, not big things, but just little things that can help them be better," Kreklow said. "An example, (junior setter) Lei (Wang) has always done a good job setting, she was just going to focus a little bit more on her blocking. Everybody had their own little thing they were trying to focus on during the course of the offseason."

Sophomore outside hitter Julianna Klein returns in 2008 after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament last September. Her recovery is one of the team's biggest story lines entering this season especially because she'll be heavily relied on to replace the production of Na Yang, who graduated.

Yang's 522 kills in 2007 set a single-season MU record and accounted for a large portion of the Tiger's offense. Klein, however, refuses to dwell on Yang's departure.

"People focus too much on what we've lost, instead of thinking about what we're gaining right now," Klein said. "Everybody's stepping it up a little extra."

The Black and Gold match showed just that, as players and coaches raved about the offseason contributions of the team's five freshmen.

Freshman defensive specialists Priscilla Armendariz and Annie Lopez garnered much post-match praise. But the newcomer of the night was freshman Brittany Brimmage, a 6-foot-3-inch middle blocker who displayed her raw athleticism and finished with 13 kills.

"She just does a lot of things that you can't teach," Kreklow said. "I can't teach somebody to have good size and agility and jump. She's going to catch on fast."

The biggest void in the lineup, though, might be the one left by the graduation of libero Tatum Ailes, MU volleyball's all-time leader in digs. Caitlyn Vann, a sophomore from Muncie, Ind., seems to be the heir apparent.

Vann, who is called the "Energizer Bunny" and "the spark plug" by her coaches, is no stranger to being relied upon for her defense. Vann's rŽsumŽ boasts 15 career 10-dig matches, including a 24-dig match on the road against Ole Miss in August 2007.

Despite her defensive prowess, Vann's coaches praise her most for her competitiveness and her "gamer" status.

"I've always been that way," Vann said. "If there's a winner or a loser, I want to be that winner."

MU, coming off of eight consecutive winning seasons and NCAA tournament berths, was recently picked fifth in the Big 12 in the preseason coaches' poll. The Tigers officially open the season on Friday at the BYU Molten Classic in Provo, Utah.

"Every day we're in the locker room talking like, 'We can't wait to get out on the road,'" Klein said. "We're just so excited to be out there against good competition. We're ready to show the country what we're made of."