Sarah Durbin
Outside hitter Janet deMarrais, stretches her arms wide to her teammates celebrating a long rally during Missouri’s game against Arkansas on Friday, Oct. 3 at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo. deMarrais had a total of 11 kills and scored 14.5 points in the match.
No. 25 Missouri Tigers volleyball earned a hard-fought 3-1 win over Auburn Sunday, Oct. 12. Missouri lost the first set 25-23, but took the following three 32-30, 25-17 and 25-23. The Tigers improve to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in Southeastern Conference play, while extending their all-time record against Auburn to 18-3.
Senior libero Maya Sands led Missouri with 23 digs, while freshman libero Zoey Matias-Lopez set a career-high 22 digs. Senior outside hitter Caylen Alexander paced the attack with 19 kills, while freshman right-side hitter Maca Lobaglio contributed a career-best eight kills on a .412 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Janet deMarrais added 15 kills, and redshirt senior middle Tyrah Ariail chipped in 12 kills. Defensively, Alexander, Ariail and senior middle Regan Haith combined for five blocks each, including two solo stops from Haith.
Auburn claimed the first set, capitalizing on Missouri errors to pull ahead 20-14. Missouri rallied, but ultimately fell 25-23. The second set turned into a nail-biter, featuring multiple lead changes and long rallies. Missouri clawed back from an 18-21 deficit, using kills between points from deMarrais to capture the set 32-30.
The Tigers’ momentum carried into the third set, where they jumped to a 9-4 lead and never looked back, cruising to a 25-17 win. The fourth set was tightly contested, as Auburn took a late lead of 21-17. Missouri responded with a clutch 5-2 run, sealing the match 25-23 with final kills from deMarrais and Ariail.
Head coach Dawn Sullivan now boasts a 50-29 record at Mizzou and remains undefeated against Auburn at 3-0. The Tigers return to Hearnes Center for a weekend of home-court play, beginning Friday, Oct. 17 against Ole Miss and Sunday, Oct. 19 against Louisiana State University.
Edited by Killian Wright | [email protected]
Copy edited by Emma Harper | [email protected]
Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]