Ampudia, Kreklow Earn Preseason Honors

Paola Ampudia"> Paola Ampudia Tigers picked to finish fifth in Big 12 by the league coaches. Aug. 12, 2010 COLUMBIA, Mo. - Both Paola Ampudia (Cali, Colombia) and Molly Kreklow (Delano, Minn.) were honored by the Big 12 volleyball coaches as the league released its preseason rankings and awards on Thursday (Aug. 12). Ampudia was named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team while Kreklow was named Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year. The Tigers were also picked to finish fifth this season by the league's coaches as they garnered 63 total points in the voting, just two shy of fourth-place Oklahoma. The Tigers are coming off of an 18-14 season while their 18 wins in 2009 were their most since 2005. Mizzou returns five of six starters from a season ago and the headliner is Ampudia, who follows her 2009 All-Big 12 first team honors with All-Big 12 Preseason honors in 2010. She was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year last season after finishing league play ranked second in kills per set and points per set. Also, she finished the season with 281 kills over her last 16 matches (nearly 18 per match); no player in the Big 12 had more kills in that span. Ampudia also became the 11th player in program history to post at least 400 kills in a single season and the first to do so in the 25-point set era. She set three school records and broke a Big 12 record for kills in a four-set match with her 35 tallies in a win at Kansas. Those 35 kills are a school record as were her 78 attacks in that match. She also set the school standard for kills in a four-set match with 26 at Texas A&M. Kreklow comes to Mizzou after being named the No. 20 overall national recruit by PrepVolleyball.com. A 6-0 setter from Delano, Minn., Kreklow is the niece of head volleyball coach Wayne Kreklow and will assume the starting setter job this season; replacing four-year started Lei Wang-Francisco, who graduated last season. A two-time AAU All-American and three-time AAU National Champion, Kreklow brings with her an impressive résumé. She was named to the AVCA/Under Armour All-America first team and set for both the USA Volleyball Youth and Junior national teams. Over the summer, she was the starting setter for the Junior National team that claimed the North America, Central America, Caribbean (NORCECA) Continental Championship after going 5-0. She started four of the five matches and dished a team-high 61 assists in the tournament. She has been training with Mizzou since January after she enrolled at Mizzou a semester early. The Big 12 coaches picked Nebraska to win the league as it received nine of 11 first place votes. Texas was the runner-up after picking up a pair of first-place nods. Iowa State and Oklahoma round out the league's top four spots, ranking third and fourth, respectively. Texas' Juliann Faucette was named Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year while Justine Young of Texas Tech was voted Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Mizzou opens its 2010 schedule with the Tiger Invitational on Aug. 27. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.