Tiger volleyball to take on Panthers in NCAA Tournament opener

Missouri finished the regular season with a 20-10 overall record.

By Zach Dischiano

Published Dec. 3, 2010

The Missouri volleyball team will take on the Northern Iowa Panthers in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament on Friday. The Tigers will make their ninth appearance in the tournament, entering the bracket with a 20-10 overall record and 12-8 Big 12 record. Missouri comes into the game winning nine of the last 12 games, which put it at fifth in the final Big 12 standings.

Missouri and Northern Iowa have met once in the tournament before, a five-set victory for the Panthers back in 2002. The Tigers won the first two sets, but were unable to finish off the Panthers, who won the next three consecutive sets to move on to the next round.

Three Tigers earned conference awards at the end of the regular season. Senior outside hitter Paola Ampudia earned a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team and freshman setter Molly Kreklow was voted as an honorable mention. Kreklow and freshman outside hitter Lisa Henning both made it on the All-Big 12 freshman team. All three players are entering Monday’s match on a hot streak. Ampudia has recorded five double-doubles in her last seven matches, Kreklow tallied a career-high 62 assists in her last match against Oklahoma, and Lisa Henning is hitting .262 with 48 kills during her last five matches.

The No. 10 Panthers will be making their fifth consecutive appearance in the tournament and their 16th in program history. The team comes into the match with a 30-2 overall record, which marks the second consecutive season with at least 30 wins.

Northern Iowa coach Bobbi Petersen won Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year for leading her team to its second straight undefeated season in conference play. Junior setter Bre Payton won the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Award for the second straight season, and three other Panthers earned spots on the MVC First Team. Northern Iowa is ranked in the top ten nationally in kills per set, winning percentage, assists per set and digs per set.

The key to taking down the No. 10-ranked Panthers for the Tigers will be hitting percentage. Missouri has an 18-3 record when hitting above .200, but just a 2-7 record when hitting below the same percentage. The Tigers are also 11-1 when their opponent hits under .200. Winning on the road is a must for Missouri, who has done a solid job thus far with 11 victories away from Columbia.

The team led the Big 12 in service aces during conference play with 1.16 aces per set, so the Tigers will look to continue their success in the serving department against the Panthers to ensure victory. Senior libero Caitlyn Vann has won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week for the last three weeks of the season, so Missouri will need her to keep up her strong defensive play in the back row.

Stopping Payton will be a difficult but necessary task for the Tigers, who will try and limit the junior setter’s production offensively. Payton has recorded six triple-doubles this season and 13 in her career, which is a Missouri Valley Conference record.

The game starts at 8 p.m. Friday night in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The winner of the match will move on to face the winner of Northwestern and Arizona.