The Missouri volleyball team will step back onto the court Friday for its 2016 season in the annual Black and Gold scrimmage at Hearnes Center.

After the first week of practice, coach Wayne Kreklow is encouraged by the team’s work ethic and chemistry heading into the season.

“I like our options,” Kreklow said. “We’re deep. We’ve got some new people that are contributing and helping a lot, so it’ll be interesting to see how all of this kind of plays out.”

The Tigers sit at No. 17 in the PrepVolleyball.com preseason poll and No. 28 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. There are 11 returning players, which makes Missouri a solid team with veteran experience.

Here are three things to look for throughout the Tigers’ season:

**Returning players bring experience and knowledge**

The 11 returning players already know each other on and off the court, which helps when it comes to performance. A two-week team trip to China to play international teams at the end of May helped not only the Tigers’ play, but also their chemistry.

“If you’re going to bond someplace, going to China is a great place to do it because you can’t just scatter and do your own thing,” Kreklow said. “It was great training and really beneficial for us to bond as a team.”

That experience together should transfer to the court. Knowing what each player brings to the team will help with confidence going into tougher matches.

Sophomore Alyssa Munlyn, a returning AVCA All-American, said it helps to know your teammates on all levels, as players and as people, because it makes the transition easier for new players.

“It helps when you’ve played with all these girls because when new people come in they get it easily since we’re all on the same page already,” she said. “Everyone is there helping them out.”

Missouri has gradually turned into a solid program over the years, following a breakout season in 2013 with its first-ever Southeastern Conference championship.

Now, with the returning players’ experience and knowledge of their own team and their opponents, the Tigers can walk onto the court with the confidence to win.

“When we step on the court now, we have an expectation of winning,” senior Emily Thater said. “It’s no longer a feeling of, ‘Oh, we beat Florida. That’s awesome.’ We expect to contend with everybody.”

**Steady players bring steady play**

Because most of the players are returning, they are what Kreklow calls “steady” — playing the game with little or no mistakes, understanding the role each player has and knowing the court, along with the players on the court. That’s exactly what Missouri needs to advance and do well in the NCAA tournament.

A good example of this is the two setters that will see the most playing time this season, juniors Courtney Eckenrode and Ali Kreklow. Both earned playing time last season, but, as Kreklow describes it, it was a lot like watching Missouri quarterback and then-freshman Drew Lock last season.

“Everyone can tell he’s a great player, but you get out there and get so overwhelmed because there’s so much information being thrown at you, and it’s hard,” Wayne Kreklow said. “Setting is so fast, and for these guys, you often see their junior or senior year something clicks and they just take that next step, which is what happened with Courtney and Ali.”

Eckenrode and Ali Kreklow have had that click, and their consistency is the most important thing they will bring to the court.

That balanced, supportive play is going to assist others to make plays and win points, and when Missouri gets into a rhythm on the court, it can be unstoppable.

**Senior Carly Kan is at it again, this time with a lot of help**

Kan, an outside hitter, made waves her freshman year, setting new records and earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors three years ago.

Kan, now a senior, was the Tigers’ secret weapon, and although opposing teams may not have known her coming in, they walked away knowing they’d have to come back the next year better prepared for Kan.

“Last year, that kind of hit me harder, that other teams were constantly coming after me,” Kan said. “Now that I’ve been through that, it’s going to help me a lot this year, like I’ve been pushed down and it’s OK. Now I can accept that and keep going, instead of letting it get to my head.”

With that confidence, Kan can expect that teams will come to the court prepared to knock her down, but now she knows how to handle it. This is a crucial piece of knowledge for someone who already had 491 kills, 27 solo blocks and 52 total blocks last season.

But Kan isn’t the only player opposing teams will have to look out for.

“What I’m hoping to do for Carly this year, is with more depth, we can take some of the load off,” Kreklow said.

That depth is going to come from people like junior Melanie Crow, who transferred from Ole Miss this summer. She’s been working in the outside hitting spot during practice, and Kreklow said that’s where he will probably pencil her in during the season.

Crow was outstanding at Ole Miss her freshman and sophomore year, starting all but one match, but she suffered a concussion and took a medical redshirt year her junior year. She felt she could still play after taking time off and came back to her native state to finish her career.

If she can stay healthy, Crow is going to help out Missouri in big ways.

“She’s a great kid, very intelligent, she’s a very steady personality on the court,” Kreklow said. “She’s a physical and dynamic player. I think she’s going to be a big part of what we do.”

Kan said the entire team has been putting in the work to help out the team this season. She said she can count on her teammates to back her up, and they can count on her to back them up.

“Now we have a lot of people who can put the ball away, and that helps me a lot because blockers don’t know where to go …” Kan said. “So now we’re getting a lot of one on ones and that’s really helping out our offense.”

When Kan was a freshman, MU graduate and current graduate assistant Molly Kreklow was her role model. Kreklow, who played with Team USA in 2015, gave Kan someone to aspire to be.

Now Kan is stepping into that role as a senior, leading the team on and off the court and pushing the team to its limits.

“(Molly) really taught all of us what a good leader is,” Kan said. “She was never down on us, she was hard on us when we needed it but encouraging when we needed that. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m not one to be down on someone, so I think just understanding those roles that each player brings is really important.”