MIZ-ZOU

First of all, it's a very exciting weekend in Columbia. It's the Mizzou-Nebraska football game and it's on ESPN at 8:15 pm. Even more exciting I GET TO GO TO THE GAME! :) You should watch and try to find me. I'll be the one in the gold shirt. (Watch the game, you will find this much funnier). It's our Gold Rush game and our Big XII opener. Now on top of all of that we have several other athletic events. We have a volleyball game at 2 pm against Texas Tech, softball has a game at noon, there are live wresting matches at Hearnes following the volleyball match, sometime in the morning there is baseball practice, and Men's Basketball is having open gym at 4. I think that covers everything...maybe women's basketball practice in there somewhere too. So needless to say we have a full day of events to cover.

Now for the volleyball update. Iowa State was a hard fought battle, but we lost in 5; 27-30, 30-24, 30-26, 26-30, 16-14. This was one of the most exciting matches all season though. We are definitely two very closely matched teams. In game 5, we were down 14-7 at one point in time and won 7 straight points to tie the game before losing. It was definitely a heart breaker of a match. The following Wednesday we played at Kansas State. The atmosphere there is amazing, but we were swept in 3. Not many high points in that game with our scores being 30-21, 30-20, 30-20. This isn't a game we try to reflect on too much at all. This brought our record to 7-6 and 0-4 in Big XII play. Then things began to look up.

We hosted No. 25 Oklahoma last Saturday. Talk about an exciting day. Oklahoma was leading the conference coming in and we were tied for 10th (out of 11). They and Nebraska were both undefeated, but since Nebraska had already had an off week and OU hadn't, their record was 5-0 against the Huskers 4-0. Well needless to say we knocked them out of their top spot. We started out up 2-0; 31-29, 30-18. Then comes the 10 minute intermission (I am beginning to hate that break). We came out and lost the next two 33-35, 24-30. Game 3 was amazing, as you tell by the score. It was back and forth the whole time. Then came game 5, which we won 15-13. It was GREAT! We definitely needed that win more than anything and of course any victory over the Sooners is GREAT! (Sorry Kyle, I still love you!) Wednesday we went to Colorado. I now have a new appreciate for jet planes. We chartered a turbo prop plane instead of the jet plane that we have been taking to games. It was still a 30 seater plane instead of the 19 seater that they took last year, but not near as smooth and the prop was right outside my window. Oh well, we got there safely and it's better than driving. Well I have discovered that we can't do anything the easy way. Once again we got up 2-0, go into "halftime", come back out lose the next 2, but win game 5. So we are now 9-6, 2-4 in Big XII and tied for 6th in the conference. Scores were 30-20, 30-19, 26-30, 28-30, 15-9. Another exciting thing about the game. Weiwen "Wendy" Wang, one of freshmen, broke two school records that night. She had 13 blocks in the match and 19 kills with no errors. Previous records were 12 block and 17 kills with no errors. She also recorded the second-highest hitting percentage (.559, 19-0-34) all-time in a Tiger five-game match. So going 5 wasn't all that bad, just a little stressful. That was our 7th 5 game match on the year. The school record is currently 10 and we aren't even half way through conference. I told the girls we should see how many matches we could win in 3, that's a lot more fun than 5.

Well I guess that's it for the volleyball update. Our next 5 out of 6 games are at home, so it will be nice to get some time off from traveling, but that just means more work getting things ready for games.

Harper's half birthday was Tuesday. Neisha & Casey had a half birthday party for her. It was so cute. I don't have any pictures from it yet, but I will post them when I do get them. She got into the cake, despite Neisha saying she couldn't. She wasn't really sure what to think about the icing and cake taste, but we tried to tell her it is MUCH better than the rice cereal.

Mom & Dad are coming in two week and I am super excited. It's our homecoming game vs the Red Raiders and we host Texas in volleyball. I still have my fingers crossed for that night football game. We find out Monday the time :) I am very anxious to say the least. Kyle & Emily are coming over for the game as well. It will great to all be together again and hopefully we all get to tailgate together. Dad--I asked Casey again if you could bring the Tech football guy--he said NO. :( I still think he is super cool and you better have him plugged in on Saturdays at home. I do miss my Red Raider Football Games, but I am super excited to get to go watch my Missouri Tigers play this weekend, and who could ask for a better game to be my first.

Mizzou-RAH! Go Tigers!