Riding a three-game win streak on its recent home stand, Missouri volleyball hit the road to Manhattan, Kansas, to face off against Kansas State in its seventh game of the season Wednesday evening. Seeking to extend its win streak to four games, the Tigers fought hard in a full five-set game but ultimately came up empty-handed, losing sets one, two and five 27-25, 25-14 and 15-10, respectively.
Both teams played the first set competitively. The Tigers, led by senior outside hitter Anna Dixon, overcame an early 4-1 deficit to keep the set close, reaching an 8-8 tie midway through. From there, the defense tallied up numerous blocks — finishing the night with 16 — to boost Missouri to its largest lead of the match, 18-12. Despite the lead, the Wildcats found a spark in freshman outside hitter Shaylee Myers, who finished the night with a .419 attacking percentage on 43 total attempts. Rallying behind her, Kansas State forced extra points and ultimately took set one 27-25.
Set two proved troublesome for Missouri, as it fell to an early 7-2 deficit. The outside hitter duo of Myers and senior outside hitter Elena Baka, who had a combined 39 kills on the night, led the way for the Wildcats as they cruised to a 25-14 set victory, taking a 2-0 lead.
Missouri answered in the third set, taking an early 4-2 lead, which was evened out at 8 points for each team later in the set. Kansas State senior middle blocker Sydney Bolding later recorded one kill and two aces back-to-back-to-back to build a 19-12 lead over Missouri. Fearing a sweep, the Tigers caught fire and went on an 8-3 run to close the gap at 22-20. While their hot streak cooled slightly, the Tigers rallied, forced extra points and took set three in a 26-24 victory.
After shifting the momentum, Missouri took an early 3-1 set lead. Kansas State answered by trading points with the Tigers as the score tied at 8, 9 and 10 until Missouri surged late in the set to take a 16-12 lead. The team fought off the clawing Wildcats, committing 10 fewer errors than Kansas State and eventually taking set four in a 25-20 win, forcing a final fifth set.
Despite the two-set win streak the Tigers assembled, Kansas State came out of the gate hot in set five, opening with a 9-2 run. Dixon led the way for the Tigers, tallying 17 kills on 46 attempts and four blocks against her former team. As Missouri attempted to mount a comeback, the team fell short and lost the set 15-10, giving it a 3-2 defeat.
Despite a high-leveled defensive effort, Kansas State’s higher attacking percentage of .200 to Missouri’s .164 hurt the Tigers and led to another loss for the young team, with 12 of 15 players being freshmen or sophomores, knocking the Tigers down to 4-3 on the year.
Edited by Riley Gearhart | rgearhart@themaneater.com
Copy Chief — Jacob Richey | jrichey@themaneater.com
