The Missouri Tigers took a three-set match from East Tennessee State (25-14, 25-15 and 25-20) on Saturday afternoon at the Murphy Center, continuing their sweeping success at the Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Bash.
Averaging .773 hitting in the match, senior middle blocker Brittany Brimmage led the team with 18 kills. Brimmage’s performance accented a season-high 50 kill three-set match. The team averaged 16.67 kills per set.
Sophomore outside hitter Lisa Henning was one dig short of a double-double performance, pounding out a season-best 13 kills and nine digs.
The Tigers also put up high numbers defensively, with senior libero Priscilla Armendariz digging 15 balls on the match and freshman defensive specialist Jade Hayes adding nine ups.
Sophomore setter Molly Kreklow quarterbacked 43 assists, a Big 12 Conference season-high for a three-set match.
At the beginning of the first set, the Tigers had a tug-of-war match up with ETSU before Katie O’Brien’s kill provoked the inner beast in the team.
Brimmage seemed to be the sparkplug for the Tigers, going at the Buccaneers full force with 10 kills on 11 swings and averaging a .909 attack percentage.
Hitting a .469 average in the first set, Henning added three kills and O’Brien mixed in a pair of hits as well before the Tigers took the first set.
The back-and-forth score continued in the start of set two, but Kreklow served into a 7-0 run and took the score out of reach for the opposing Buccaneers.
After intermission, the team fell behind in the third set before veterans Brimmage and Henning took control to tie the game.
Brimmage then added two kills to the score to pull away from the draw.
The Tigers clinched their sixth sweep of the season before taking on Florida International University for the 7:30 p.m. match.
Defensive play rallied the team to another round of brooms (25-17, 25-21 and 25-14). Hayes dug a career-best nine ups and Armendariz pitched in eight of the 39 on the match.
The Tigers held strong at the net with 12.0 blocks, five of which were notched by freshman Whitney Little, and were aced only once.
Little now has 35 blocks on the season after putting up four in the earlier match, making her the quickest freshman to reach that mark since coach Wayne Kreklow took over the program. She hit .429 in the evening match with four kills as well.
Brimmage continued her play from earlier in the day with nine kills on .600 hitting. Henning put up eight kills while O’Brien tallied seven and freshman outside hitter Emily Wilson totaled five.
The first set once again drew a close score. A defensive play by Henning set up for a Wilson kill and allowed a 17-14 lead for MU before FIU called a timeout to regroup.
The timeout had no effect on the Tigers, who won the match 25-17 and scored 12 of the set’s last 16 points.
FIU errors at the net caused the Panthers to fall behind after beginning the second set with a 5-1 lead.
The Tigers had only eight kills in the set, but defense allowed them to rally to a 25-21 victory. Brimmage put out five kills on .500 hitting while O’Brien was another force at the net with three solo blocks.
The third set wasn’t nearly as nail-biting as the second, with Little serving up three aces early to claim a 7-4 lead.
Henning and Brimmage once again led the team in kills that drew the lead to 12-7.
It was smooth sailing from there, as the Tigers concluded Saturday with a 25-14 third set and their third sweep of the tournament.
They are now 7-1 on the season with all of their wins being sweeps.
The Tigers will finish the Bash tomorrow when they play Auburn at 12:30 p.m.
