Lindsey Hunter returns to volleyball team

By Ross Taylor

Published Sept. 4, 2008

In 2005, the Missouri volleyball team said goodbye to Lindsey Hunter, arguably the program's most decorated alumna. Three years later, the team is welcoming her back.

Hunter returns to the volleyball program to finish her degree and assist the team in a capacity not yet determined.

"We're trying to work with (NCAA) compliance to try and structure what her title is going to be to allow her to actually work with us and be more of a coach rather than an office person," coach Wayne Kreklow said.

Hunter, MU's all-time leader in assists and assists per game, returns two and a half years after playing with the U.S. National Team. During her four-year career at Missouri, Hunter averaged 13.73 assists per game, the sixth-highest total in NCAA history.

Despite her success at Missouri, Hunter did not crack the national team's 12-player roster for the Beijing Olympics. Of the national team's four setters, coaches opted to play veterans Robin Ah Mow-Santos, 32, and Lindsey Berg, 28.

"Those setters that they took have prior Olympic experience and are in their late 20s or early 30s," Kreklow said. "Lindsey's still pretty young in terms of that type of competition."

But Hunter's national team experience comes in handy for a young Missouri team with no senior players. Hunter's biggest asset to the program comes from the psychological edge she gained at the national level.

"The thing that sets national team players apart from collegiate players is the ability to stay on top of your mental game and the ability to control your emotions," Hunter said.

Hunter's return to Missouri was prompted by her desire to finish her degree in business administration. In 2005, Hunter opted to delay her final nine hours of school to train with the national team.

"When I decided to go out to Colorado to train with the national team, I still had one semester left, but I decided to take the opportunity," Hunter said. "I knew that school would always be there."

Her return to the program is part of a growing trend of nationally prominent Missouri athletes returning to assist their former teams. Hunter joins Olympians Christian Cantwell and Ben Askren, who serve as volunteer assistant coaches for the track and field and wrestling teams respectively.

"Anytime you can get somebody who was that great of a collegiate player and now with that much experience as a national team player, it's just awesome to get those people back," Kreklow said. "You see that around the athletic department as a whole. We've had some great people come back in the track program, in wrestling with Ben Askren... it's just great to have those kind of people around."

Hunter's return, which she termed "a privilege," began during the final week of August.