It’s crunch time for Missouri volleyball. With less than a month left in the season, the Tigers sit at fourth place in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division with a conference record of 7-5.
In order to make the NCAA tournament, the Tigers will need to stand in the top 50 in the NCAA RPI rankings at the end of the season. As of Monday, Missouri was ranked 48, but that number could fall after Wednesday’s loss to Georgia.
Leading the hopeful charge to the tournament will be the junior leaders of the team: junior setter Molly Kreklow and junior outside hitter Lisa Henning.
Kreklow currently leads the SEC in double-doubles with 14 on the season, the most recent coming against Georgia where she tallied 24 assists and 13 digs. She is currently averaging 10.47 assists per set on the season and has proven to be the team’s most lethal server with 21 aces.
Henning has been the Tigers’ most effective scorer since the start of the season with a team-high 363 total kills averaging 4.59 kills per set. Combined, Henning and Kreklow have 23 double-doubles this season, the third highest by any duo in the SEC.
Aside from being the offensive statistical leaders for the team, both players have a unique style for encouraging their teammates.
“I think Molly is the more vocal leader while Lisa is more of the lead-by-example type,” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “Molly’s going to be doing more of the talking, so if things need to be said in order motivate the team, she’ll be the one to do it.”
Henning described the dynamic between herself and Kreklow as “good cop/bad cop.”
“Molly and I have very different leadership styles,” Henning said. “She’s more of the person everyone would go to for the nice answer. If somebody comes up to me, I just flat out tell them the truth. I think I’m just a little bit more outspoken. I try to be positive but you can’t be happy go lucky all the time.”
Kreklow described her leadership style as positive, respectful and levelheaded.
“I’m a little bit more calm and cool while she (Henning) is a little bit fierier,” Kreklow said. “I always try to lead by example and don’t harsh criticism, and I reflect that on other people. I just try to lead with respect.”
The biggest challenge the team has had to face recently is the departure of sophomores Taylor Simpson, who left the team permanently, and Niki Collier, who is currently on a leave of absence from the team, forcing the starting lineup and position rotations to change midway through the season.
Henning said she believes the team has responded well to the changes.
“I think it made our whole team get a little bit closer and help us understand that we have the players on this team to still accomplish the goals we set out for at the beginning of the year,” Henning said. “Everybody is just working a little bit harder since we are a few people down.”
Kreklow agreed but pointed out that there is still plenty of work to be done.
“I think we need to keep improving and earning experience,” Kreklow said. “This isn’t the same lineup you started with and you only get better when you’re on the court with the same people, so we need to just keep practicing.”
