Lauren Replogle
The No. 21-ranked Missouri Tigers fell to No. 13 Texas A&M 3-1 in their first Southeastern Conference matchup of the season.
The Aggies — Missouri’s third-ranked matchup of the year — held the advantage in virtually every major statistic during the match, simply outplaying the visiting Tigers. Missouri has fallen to 3-3 in away matches this season, and 2-3 in four set matches.
Missouri struggled right out of the gate, falling behind 5-0 in the first set and not capturing its first lead of the night until the initial play of the third set, which they would eventually win by a score of 26-24 after 15 ties and six lead changes.
The Aggies responded, winning the fourth set convincingly 24-8 and scoring 16 of the last 19 points in Reed Arena to take home the victory. The Tigers couldn’t gain any momentum throughout the match, failing to eclipse five points in a row during any of the four sets compared to Texas A&M’s match-high streak of 10.
The biggest discrepancy came in the form of attacking errors, as Missouri’s 30 nearly doubled Texas A&M’s 17. Missouri’s hitting percentage woes against top teams also continued, as the Tigers posted a season-low .063 hitting percentage compared to the Aggies’ .260. Missouri’s inefficiency on attacks is continuing to prevent them from winning against ranked teams.
Senior Caylen Alexander continues to shine for Missouri, leading the team with 14 kills, 10 digs and 1.5 blocks. The former Big West Conference Player of the Year prepares for the toughest stretch of her career in the next few weeks of conference play. The Hawaii transfer leads the team with 138 kills, good for sixth in the SEC.
Maya Sands is coming off her third-career SEC Player of the Week Award, tallying four assists and a match-high 19 digs against the Aggies. The senior standout is in pursuit of a third-straight SEC Libero of the Year award, and now stands at 220 digs on the season, leading the SEC by 70 digs.
Redshirt junior Marina Crownover continues to put on a solid performance for the Tigers, recording 15 assists, good for second on the team behind freshman Nina Mandovic’s 17. Crownover, who earned 2024 All-SEC Second Team honors last season, is currently seventh in the conference with 401 assists.
The Tigers will have a quick turnaround and face even tougher competition as they take on the No. 2 Texas Longhorns at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26. The Longhorns have lost just five sets all year, and are an impressive 7-0 against ranked opponents this season. Two of those victories came against No. 5 Stanford and No. 9 Texas Christian University, both of which Missouri has lost to this season. The Tigers will undoubtedly have to play their best match of the year if they want to avoid starting 0-2 in conference play this season.
Edited by Colin Simmons l [email protected]
Copy edited by Ava Mohror | [email protected]
Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]