After last week’s Black & Gold Scrimmage, Missouri volleyball will start its season this weekend against four other teams in the Tiger Invitational.
The Tigers will host North Florida and Virginia Tech on Friday and Nicholls State and No. 23 Michigan on Saturday.
In the week leading up to the annual tournament, the team has been hard at work. Junior outside hitter Lisa Henning voiced her displeasure over her performance last week, but has been tweaking her game since.
“I’ve been trying to focus on the little things that make the bigger plays,” Henning said. “By working on that physically and mentally, I’m getting better prepared.”
With school starting this week, the transition has been challenging for some of the players.
“A lot of people are tired because we’re getting off two-a-days and starting up school again,” junior setter Molly Kreklow said. “But we’ll all be ready.”
Coach Wayne Kreklow said he has been happy with the improvements from the week of practice.
“I think everybody’s been working hard and making progress,” Wayne Kreklow said. “I think our core group — Molly, Taylor (Simpson) and Lisa — have done a really good job in being consistent.”
Sophomore middle blocker Whitney Little is also showing a lot of improvement and sophomore middle blocker Mellissa Hartsel has been developing well in the middle, Wayne Kreklow said.
“And of course you have (sophomore Jade (Hayes) and (sophomore) Nikkie (Collier) both at libero,” he said.
Before even stepping on to the court, the Tigers will have two advantages over their opposition. The first is home court advantage at the Hearnes Center.
“There’s a certain comfort level that comes with playing on your home court,” Wayne Kreklow said. “It’s not an easy place to play because most people don’t play in a big arena, so hopefully that will help us.”
The second advantage will be fan support.
“Especially for the first tournament, I think having our fans is going to give people confidence on the court and make everyone feel more comfortable,” Henning said.
Missouri’s first opponent will be North Florida at 12:30 p.m. Friday. The Ospreys finished last season with a 7-22 record but have six starters returning including senior libero Nicole Baran, who averaged 4.3 digs per set last season.
The Tigers will then have to wait until 7 p.m. to meet Virginia Tech. The Hokies will have five starters returning. Most notable is returning middle blocker Cara Baarendse, who led the team with 327 kills in 2011. She has also been named to the AVCA All-American honorable mention team for the second year in a row.
On Saturday, Missouri will play the Nicholls State Colonels at 12:30 p.m. The Colonels had an impressive 13-game winning streak last season to finish 18-14, but lost their two best players and have a new coach, Patrick Hiltz. This will be Hiltz first head coaching job.
The Tigers will face their toughest opponents in Michigan’s team at 7 p.m.. The Wolverines made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament and have four starters returning, including sophomore setter Lexi Dannemiller, who took part in the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Tournament and led her team to a gold medal.
The competition against Michigan will prepare Missouri to face other preseason top 25 teams within the Southeastern Conference: Kentucky (No. 13), Tennessee (No. 15) and Florida (No. 18).
“I think it will give us a good feel on different thing we’ll need to work on,” Henning said. “Playing against teams other than our practice squad really gives us an idea of what we need to work on before conference play.”
