Seeing sophomore Jade Hayes in the trainer’s room before and after games and practices is no longer unusual. Sophomores Niki Collier and Sarah Meister make frequent trips as well.

Such is the life of a defensive specialist, or libero, easily spotted in the back line wearing a unique jersey reminiscent of a soccer goalie. Beneath the differently colored uniform lie band-aids and bruises, athletic tape and ankle braces.

“Those are the roles that are necessary, but aren’t always fun,” Hayes said. “I get a lot of boo-boos. I dive a lot. I know the trainers tease me all the time about how many band-aids they have to put on me.”

Hayes, Collier and Meister are all competing for time as the Tigers’ DS, volleyball’s equivalent of a baseball catcher or football center. It will be up to one of these three to take the first touch on the ball to bring it to the hands of junior setter Molly Kreklow.

Teams are allocated limited substitutions per match and each time a libero enters or leaves the game, the swap is not counted against the substitution total. The tradeoff, though, is that liberos may not attack inside 10 feet of the net, making them the foremost defensive force on the floor.

“My gut feeling is that it’s going to be something that maybe will go back and forth,” coach Wayne Kreklow said as to who his starter could be. “It’s not unusual for a lot of teams to have two or sometimes even three (liberos) … Sometimes it becomes a matter of who happens to be hot, who’s on a roll. I don’t know at this point if I could say that anybody’s really nailed that spot down.”

In her debut season after being named the 2010 Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year, Hayes developed as a DS under Kreklow’s system. Collier, who led the team with nine digs in the Black and Gold scrimmage last week, said her strength was her ability to learn quickly and her knack to find the ball.

Meister played the most sets of the three in 2011 and had the most digs (224) as well. The San Diego, Calif., native’s chances for the job have been put on hold, however, following a driving under the influence arrest on Aug. 18. In a statement, the team said it is gathering information on the incident while she is suspended indefinitely.

The trio is close off the court, nearly exhausting roommate options between the three of them over four semesters in Columbia. Hayes roomed with Collier after the two enrolled at Missouri in the spring of 2010 and with Meister for a semester in 2011. Caught apart, the often-giggling sophomores would frequently be asked, “Where’s your other half?”

“I love the bond between all the teammates, but really our DS’s, our group the three amigos, the three musketeers, the three blind mice,” Hayes said. “We’ve got all sorts of names by now.”

Nonetheless, a rivalry has brewed between the “three amigos,” Collier said, with the team’s season opener tipping off with North Florida at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

“It’s definitely competitive because all of us obviously want to start and play, but I know when they do well I want them to succeed because, first and foremost, they’re my teammates, they’re my friends, they’re my sisters,” Collier said. “But you do have to remember it’s a competition and we’re out for blood.”

Molly Kreklow says the impact of the competition is undeniably present in the locker room, but the team feels each is capable to step into a role and maintain chemistry.

“I think people feel (the competition), but they’re part of the team and they help us no matter what position they’re playing. And I think they all know that now and I think that helps out a lot,” Molly Krekelow said. “Sometimes it’s not always fun being friends with somebody you’re competing with, but I think they’ve done a great job of staying true to their friendships and competing regardless of what the outcome is.”

In the Black and Gold scrimmage, Hayes played with the gold team, comprised mostly of starters, while Collier and Meister anchored the back row of the black team, made up of reserves, student managers and coaches.

In practice, Wayne Kreklow has shuffled teams more often and, in the week preceding the tournament, each could be seen getting equal time with the first team.

“I feel like he definitely makes us all feel like we’re important and he has confidence that any of us could step in at any time,” Collier said.