After sweeping the Tiger Invitational with match wins over Texas State, Ole Miss, and BYU, Mizzou heads west for the Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Every team the Tigers will face this weekend is undefeated on the season, so it should be a very competitive tournament. A look at those teams:
Sept. 4, 5:30 pm: Washington State (3-0)
The Cougars were picked to finish last in their conference—but given that their conference is the Pac 10, take that with a grain of salt. WSU blitzed through UC-Davis, Portland, and Montana State in their season-opening tournament, averaging 14 kills/set and hitting .278 last weekend. While their competition will be much stiffer this weekend, the Cougars do have some momentum that could carry over to the Utah Valley Invitational.
Senior outside hitter Jackie Albright had a Rosa Medrano-esque showing last weekend, racking up 49 kills on the weekend. However, WSU’s strength may be its ability to keep plays alive as evidenced by three players having 30 or more digs on the weekend.
Missouri and Washington State have never played in volleyball. Also, WSU is the only team from the Pac-10 Mizzou will play this year.
Fun Facts: Wazzu’s mascot is named “Butch T. Cougar” and was actually a live cougar until 1978, when the live cougar died. Am I the only one that thinks it was a minor miracle that nobody got mauled while the live cougar was the mascot?
Notable Washington State alumni include Rock n’ Roll legend Roy Orbison, cartoonist Gary Larson, and NBA legend Craig Ehlo.
Sept. 5, 1:00 pm @ Utah Valley (3-0)
How’s this for entering a new conference? Utah Valley is picked to win the Great West in their first year as a member of the conference. The Wolverines started their march to fulfill those expectations nicely last weekend, defeating Gonzaga, Weber State, and Utah State to win the Weber Invitational.
Like Washington State, Utah Valley didn’t play any teams from power conferences, but that won’t stop the Wolverines from having a good amount of confidence heading into this weekend’s tournament. Utah Valley hit .294 on the weekend, led by Chelsea Fa’alogo’s whopping .562 clip.
Fun Facts: Utah Valley was known as Utah Valley State College from its founding in 1941 until July 1, 2008, when the school gained university status. Perhaps the most successful sport at UVU is rodeo—they were ranked No. 1 in the nation as recently as 2007.
Notable alumni include hard-throwing Baltimore Orioles reliever Kam Mickolio, Utah Jazz guard Ronnie Price, and Chelsie Hightower of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With the Stars.”
Sept. 5, 5:30 pm vs. Utah (3-0)
Following an impressive 26-6 showing last year, the Utes will be the first top-25 team the Tigers will face this year. Utah can really swing, led by Chelsea Sandberg (.525 hitting percentage), Karolina Bartkowiak (.333), and Cinthia Silva (.327). As a team, the Utes have a .298 hitting percentage heading into the weekend.
Utah won’t commit a ton of mistakes—which was a huge reason why they were able to sweep a tournament that included UC-Riverside, Arizona State, and Cincinnati—so Mizzou certainly will have to play a clean game to keep pace.
Mizzou and Utah have played each other twice, with Mizzou sweeping in 2005 and Utah sweeping in 2003.
Fun facts: During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the university was used as the games’ Olympic Village.
Notable alumni include artificial heart pioneer Robert Jarvik, Atari and Chuck E. Cheese founder Nolan Bushnell, and former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson.
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