The Tigers put on a show this past weekend at their home invitational, going 3-0
Missouri volleyball finished with a 3-0 record in their home tournament, the Mizzou Invitational. They picked up wins against Kansas City, UT Martin and Lindenwood en route to an undefeated weekend.
Here are three takeaways from their third tournament of the season:
deMarrais Shines
Outside hitter Janet deMarrais had an impressive weekend. The junior from Colleyville, Texas is looking to capitalize on her strong 2023 season, where she finished with 357 kills, the second most on the team.
She was consistent throughout the weekend with eight kills against UMKC, six kills against UT Martin and seven kills against Lindenwood. She also had an outstanding .417 hitting percentage on Friday against UT Martin.
Head coach Dawn Sullivan had lots of praise for deMarrais’ performance.
“It was really special,” Sullivan said. “She’s being really consistent in what she’s doing, and I saw a lot of growth this week.”
Keep an eye out for deMarrais to play a bigger role in the coming weeks for the Tigers as she currently has 83 kills in the early season.
Self-inflicted Wounds
On Friday, the Tigers managed to keep their mistakes at a minimum with only recording seven errors against Kansas City and five errors against UT Martin.
On Sunday, that was not the case.
The Tigers had a total of 17 errors in their match against Lindenwood that ended with a 3-1 victory. They were only able to get away with that many mistakes given the level of their opponent. Mistakes like these will not cut it against SEC teams like the Texas Longhorns or Kentucky Wildcats, whom they will play later in the year.
“It’s really just about controlling the play,” Sullivan said. “It’s about how do we make the other team play more and more and how do we control a lot of the emotions that we’re feeling on our side to make sure we have control of that volume.”
Home Sweet Home
After multiple weekends of traveling, the Tigers were finally able to play at their home arena, the Hearnes Center, for the first time in the 2024 season. Missouri breezed by their opponents in the Mizzou Invitational and having home advantage played a big role.
Looking back at 2023, Missouri finished with an 11-4 record at the Hearnes Center, a stat they look to replicate for their 2024 season.
The Tigers are undefeated at home with a 3-0 record, while standing at 3-3 on the road.
“It’s a breath of fresh air to finally play at home after so much travel,” Sullivan said. “I also think the fans here are legit. They’re the best in the country.”
The Tigers will travel once again on Thursday, Sept. 19 to Nashville, Tennessee to play in the Lippy Invite.
Edited by Michael Stamps | mstamps@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com