Volleyball team struggles to maintain energy

Playing at home after ten road games, the team appreciated an enthusiastic crowd.

By Evan Glantz

Published Sept. 22, 2008

After beginning the season with 10 straight games on the road, the Tigers returned to Columbia on Sunday for the first time and were greeted by more than 2,000 fans.

"It was nice to finally get back here and play," coach Wayne Kreklow said. "The difficulties of being on the road stem more from the actual travel rather than playing. The travel, it gets wearisome after a while. It was nice to be here so we didn't have to leave Thursday to go some place."

Missouri opened the season with three pre-conference tournaments, the first of which was the BYU Classic in Utah. The Tigers went the full five sets in the championship game, before losing to the Brigham Young Cougars and finishing second.

From there, the team traveled to Maryland to take part in the Spring Hill Suites at Arundel Mills Invitational, where they finished third. Then, Missouri headed west again for Nevada's AT&T Invitational in Reno, Nev. The cross-country expedition concluded in Oklahoma, where the Tigers began conference play against the Sooners.

"It helps that we got to play good competition for three weekends," freshman defensive specialist Annie Lopez said. "Even though we came out with some washes, it made us a stronger team."

However, the grind of road games soon gave way to the excitement of the home opener.

"It's definitely a big deal for us to be able to come home and play at home, and have all of our fans here supporting us," sophomore outside hitter Julianna Klein said. "That's my favorite thing about Mizzou, is having the crowd out here supporting us. It helps us come alive and come out of our shell. It just takes us up a notch."

In the home opener against Baylor, MU dropped the first two sets 25-22 and 25-23 respectively. In the third set, the team rallied back, and with the crowd on its feet, came from behind to win 25-23. However, in the fourth and final set, the Tigers fell to the Bears 25-22, to lose the match 3-1.

Kreklow cited inconsistency as a pitfall of the team so far. While he thought the team played well, Kreklow said he sees plenty that still needs to be done.

"What we're doing right now is we score one then give up two," he said. "We score two, we give up four. We've got to be able to stop the runs a little bit. And we've got to be able to string some things together more."

The schedule does not offer the Tigers much of a break. Missouri plays three of its next five games on the road, including a game at No. 18 Kansas State. However, the team does play Nebraska, the second-ranked team in the nation, at home next month. That game especially, the crowd could provide a big boost to the team.

"We know the fans will support us no matter what," Klein said. "I have always said we have one of the best crowds here because not only do they help us, they get into the other team's head, chanting. It makes it very hard for them to focus."