Volleyball Match #11: Kansas 3, Missouri 2

Well, I know two things for sure: 1) Volleyball is a game of ridiculous runs, and 2) Mizzou might be in trouble this year.

In tonight's match against Kansas...

* Kansas won 20 of the first 28 points.
* Missouri won 14 of the next 20.
* Kansas won 14 of the next 22.
* Missouri won 21 of the next 32.
* The teams split the next 28 points.
* Missouri won 25 of the next 38.
* Kansas won 9 of the next 12.
* The teams split the next 28 points.
* Kansas won 21 of the last 32.

That's a long way of saying Missouri lost the Game 1 (30-23), won Games 2 & 3 (30-26, 30-20), and went up 24-22 in Game 4 before falling in Games 4 & 5 (30-28, 15-7). For the third time this season, Missouri lost a match in which they outscored their opponents.

Kansas won this match with defense, scoring an impressive 16 blocks and 65 digs, which suggests we were a little too predictable (in Klein's absense, we went to Na Yang 55 times). Nobody hit particularly well for Mizzou. Na (24 kills, .200) tried her damnedest, but she didn't get much contribution from the youngsters scrambling to replace Julianna Klein. Amanda Hantouli had a .500 kill %, but on only 10 attempts. Beyond that, freshman Weiwen Wang had 12 kills on 35 attempts (.143), sophomore Megan Wilson had 12 kills on 34 attempts (.176), and freshman Catie Wilson had 12 kills on 31 attempts (.161).

This is not an encouraging result, as Kansas was 0-2 in conference play heading into tonight's match. The team will improve as Wang and C. Wilson get more and more used to volleyball at this level, but in the meantime, trouble could be a-brewin'.

Next up for Mizzou is a trip to Ames on Saturday. Lose that, and there's some serious trouble, as Iowa State is rarely good (though they did sweep ATM last week at home).