Corinna Utterback
Missouri volleyball runs out of the tunnel before Missouri’s game against Ole Miss on Friday, Oct. 17 at Hearnes Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Missouri Tigers volleyball took down the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks Oct. 22 in five sets, improving to 13-7 overall and 2-2 in five set matches this season.
The match wasn’t clean-cut, as both teams hit under .200 and swayed sets with costly errors. The Tigers leaned on their increasing comfort level in close matches to leave Cape Girardeau with an ugly win.
It was a big day for outside hitter Caylen Alexander, whose team-leading 15 kills brought her career total to 1500.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Tyrah Ariail covered the stat sheet, as she led the team with three blocks and two aces while also finishing second on the team with 12 blocks.
Libero Zoey Matias-Lopez’s strong freshman campaign continued, as she led the team with 21 digs, just one short of her career high.
The match was a set of runs throughout, with both sides taking turns pulling away in a heavily contested five sets.
Mizzou jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the first set before SEMO made its own 7-2 run in the middle to knot the score at 17. Multiple Paige Felder kills after a timeout helped the Tigers run away with the first set 25-17.
Missouri harbored a three-point lead at the 10-point mark of the second set until the Redhawks rattled off an 11-1 run in the middle of the set. The Tigers were unable to catch up during the remainder of the set, falling 25-20.
The third set saw the tightest matchup of the night, with five lead changes and many of the same storylines within. Mizzou was hot early, gaining a 10-6 lead off of three Alexander kills. SEMO then caught fire again, going on an 8-3 run and giving the Redhawks a 14-13 advantage. The Redhawks held a slight 23-22 lead in the final moments of the set but succumbed to three straight errors, handing the Tigers a 25-23 victory.
The next two sets didn’t see the same fireworks. SEMO went on another big 9-2 run in the fourth set and claimed a convincing 25-17 victory, tied for Missouri’s largest margin of defeat in a set in its last six games. The Tigers responded accordingly, jumping out to a 6-2 lead in the final set and never looking back. Ariail continued to show up in the clutch for the Tigers this season — the senior transfer recorded four out of her 12 kills of the night in the fifth set, leading Mizzou to a 15-8 victory and preventing a Redhawk upset.
With the victory, the Tigers finished with a 9-3 record in nonconference games and will gear up to play Southeastern Conference competition for the rest of the regular season. That starts with the South Carolina Gamecocks, who are currently 1-7 in SEC play. Mizzou will host the Gamecocks at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, in Hearnes Center.
Edited by Killian Wright | [email protected]
Copy edited by Avery Copeland | [email protected]
Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]