Cornhuskers hand Tiger volleyball first sweep of season
Published Oct. 8, 2010
The Missouri volleyball team was swept for the first time this season against No. 3 Nebraska on Wednesday night.
Senior outside hitter Paola Ampudia was the lone bright spot in the Missouri offense, with 14 kills on a .216 clip. Senior outside hitter Julianna Klein followed Ampudia with six kills on just .146 hitting. Freshman setter Molly Kreklow recorded 26 assists on just 30 total kills for the Tigers, who could not seem to put the ball down against a tough Nebraska back row.
“They never really gave us a chance to get anything going,” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “You know, it’s hard. You can’t let a deficiency in one part of your game lead into all the others, and that’s what many of our kids did.”
The Tigers got off to a hot start against the Cornhuskers with four out of the first five points awarded to Missouri. Nebraska quickly recovered and scored four out of the next five points, which tied the game up, 5-5. The game went back and forth from there, and the Tigers found themselves down 22-20 before Nebraska called a timeout. Although Missouri was in a position to win the set, Nebraska was too strong in the closing plays of the game and went on to win the set, 25-21.
After the disappointing loss in the first set, the Tigers looked to bounce back and even the score in the second. But this time, it was Nebraska who got off to a good start, winning four out of the first five points.
Missouri climbed back to reduce Nebraska’s lead to one at 5-6, but the Cornhuskers continued to pressure the Tigers' back row. The Tigers found themselves in trouble, down 11-19 and heading into a timeout called by Kreklow. A few plays later, Nebraska held a 10-point lead at 23-13.
Missouri was not prepared to give up too easily, and went on a 5-0 run to get the game within reach. The team was unable to score again, and Nebraska won the second set, 25-18. The Cornhuskers did not give up the lead at any time during the set, despite the Tigers’ efforts to start a comeback.
“I think that we didn’t play bad at all,” freshman outside hitter Lisa Henning said. “I think that there were just a couple things we could have done better. Overall, they just overcame us.”
There was hope for a comeback at the beginning of the third set, when Missouri again scored four out of the first five points. A Nebraska timeout followed the 4-1 scoring run, and in a matter of seconds, the Cornhuskers tied the game up at seven. Missouri scored the next two points, but everything went downhill from there. Nebraska scored the next 10 points with ease. The Tigers could not find a way to come back from such a large scoring run and lost in the worst set of the match, 25-16.
“I don’t think Nebraska by any ways played their best game tonight,” Kreklow said. “I don’t think they were unbeatable tonight, but I just don’t think that we played as good as we needed to. I don’t think we necessarily played bad.”
The Tigers move to 11-6 overall and 3-4 in conference play with Wednesday’s loss. The team will look to rebound Saturday when they travel out to Norman, Okla. to take on the 4-2 Sooners.