COLUMBIA — Talks of power ratings and signature wins in college sports are usually reserved for March and basketball, not November and volleyball. But with three matches remaining after Wednesday’s four-game victory against Iowa State, they’re some of the MU volleyball team’s biggest concerns.
To this point in the season, MU’s overall performance has fit the profile of what their rating of 44 in the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index suggests, a middle-of-the-road team. The Tigers have avoided losses to teams ranked lower than 100 in the NCAA’s RPI, an important tool in the tournament selection committee’s choices to fill the field of 64. In addition, only two of MU’s 10 losses were to teams outside the top 50, against Florida International and Kansas.
MU’s overall record against quality teams could hurt it as much as its record against weaker teams helps it. The Tigers are 1-7 against teams ranked above them, including 1-6 against the top four teams in the Big 12 Conference. The lone victory came against fourth-place Oklahoma, whom the Tigers will face on Nov. 21 in Norman, Okla. Senior Na Yang said before Wednesday’s match that how MU would play against tough competition was a concern of hers.
“When we were at Texas Tech, we were kind of sloppy, but we still beat them, because Texas Tech is not that good,” she said. “The first thing I worry about is if we can be stronger than when we played at Texas Tech. That’s the biggest challenge for us.”
Despite the level of competition, MU coach Wayne Kreklow downplayed the importance of the match to his players. He cited the team’s earlier victories at home against Baylor and at Texas Tech and Kansas as must-wins if the Tigers are to advance to their eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament, along with MU’s season finale against Colorado. But instead of calling the Iowa State match a must-win, he went the opposite direction.
“There were a couple games that we specifically had to win, and this wasn’t one of them,” sophomore Megan Wilson said. “Wayne said before that this was a game that if we lose, it’s not going to hurt us. If we win, it’s going to help us. I think it just helps our chances that much more.”
That helped take some of the pressure off of his team, who responded accordingly.
“We have to beat one team at a time,” Na said. “If we think about ‘OK, we have to beat all of them,’ it’s impossible to do it.”
Having to close out the schedule with nothing but wins shouldn’t be as big of a worry now. Iowa State entered Columbia with a better record in the conference and had already defeated the Tigers in five games when the teams met in Ames, Iowa, but MU’s victory put the Tigers in a tie with the Cyclones for fifth in the conference.
“It was very important, especially when they go to selection for the tournament and they see us head-to-head,” senior Tatum Ailes said. “We beat them in four, they beat us in five. It was a very important game, especially to get it done in four.”
But freshman Caitlyn Vann said there is still pressure on the Tigers as they enter their last road trip of the season. MU first travels to Texas A&M, where the Tigers are 1-10 in their history, before facing Oklahoma.
“We obviously want to win the rest (of our matches),” Vann said. “There’s still a lot of pressure on us. We want to win out to make sure that we have a good shot at going to the tournament.”
Winning out should ensure that MU is given a bid when the 64-team field is announced Nov. 25, barring a multitude of upsets in conferences that would otherwise send just one team to the tournament. Even if that’s the case, Kreklow is hoping the quality of the Big 12 and losses to tough opponents, which include a pair of five-game losses to Mississippi and Nebraska, are viewed favorably.
“I’m hoping that (the committee) will take a look at the competitiveness of our conference in particular and see that we’re good enough to go five in Lincoln,” he said. “Kansas State goes five with Nebraska, Baylor goes five with Kansas State. It’s just a revolving door of very high-level teams playing each other Wednesday-Saturday.”
But he added that he doesn’t want his team to put its fate in the hands of the selection committee and worry about matches where it cannot affect the outcome.
“You never know what a committee will do,” he said.