Aug. 31, 2012
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Mizzou volleyball team earned a big win on Friday night (Aug. 31) in game four of the Lipscomb Invitational as it improved to 2-0 at the tournament and 5-1 on the season. The Tigers swept the Lady Bison, 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-15), behind a strong effort from their outside hitters, which combined for 29 kills and just six errors. All-American Lisa Henning (Blue Springs, Mo.) had an All-America-type effort in the match, posting a match-high 12 kills on .286 hitting with nine digs, five blocks and two service aces. Newcomer Taylor Simpson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) posted 10 kills with just three errors while freshman Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.) continued her fine play with seven kills on .429 hitting as she posted a .562 attack clip with 19 kills over the Tigers' two matches today.
"Well I was really pleased with our effort tonight," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "Lipscomb was one of the teams we knew was going to be a very team to play, especially on the road, but we did a lot of things really well tonight. I thought we did a much better job controlling the ball and Molly (Kreklow) really did a nice job setting up our hitters. Now we need to turn around and play Appalachian State tomorrow."
Mizzou was very well defensively in the match, pulling in 53 digs while being aced just three times. Conversely, Mizzou served tough all night, acing the Lady Bison 10 times while keeping them out of system all night. Setter Molly Kreklow (Delano, Minn.) led the team with her SEC-leading third double-double as she had 12 digs and 29 assists. Jade Hayes (Ozark, Mo.) tallied 10 digs while Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) and Niki Collier (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) each had eight.
The Tigers took a very competitive first set, 25-21, despite a very spirited effort from the Lipscomb back line which pulled in 23 digs in the first. Kreklow quarterbacked a Tiger offense that got kills from six different players, highlighted by four from Henning and three from Simpson. Mizzou tallied three blocks in the first and corralled 18 digs, limiting LU to just .152 hitting in the first. Kreklow pulled in a team-best five digs in the first.
Mizzou was dominant in the second set and fought off a late attempt at a rally by the Lady Bison to win the frame, 25-19, giving it a 2-0 lead at intermission. The Tigers had 14 kills with just one error on .382 hitting in the second as they hit .329 as a unit through the first two sets. Simpson led Mizzou with nine kills on .350 hitting while Henning had eight kills through two sets on .259 hitting. Peltier kept things going from her morning performance against Houston, tallying four kills on .500 hitting through the first two sets.
Coming out of intermission, Mizzou got four points without even taking an attack at a ball as Kreklow served three aces around a Henning-Little block as it ran out to a 4-0 lead. That set the tone for the whole set as Mizzou ran away with the final frame, 25-15.
Mizzou will look to claim the tournament title tomorrow at 12:30 against Appalachian State. The broadcast will air live on the Mizzou Network. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MU_Volleyball.
