The bumpy road the Missouri Tigers volleyball team endured Friday during the Pioneer Classic in Denver continued to trouble the squad Saturday. For only the second time this season, the team was slowed to a complete halt, losing a four-set match to UC-Davis.
The Tigers had difficulty returning serves and allowed Davis to hit .355.
Sophomore outside hitter Lisa Henning led the match with 16 kills on a .231 average. As a team, hitting averaged to just .180, due in large part to a -.231 third set highlighted by 11 kill errors.
Trailing Henning in attacks was freshman outside hitter Emily Wilson with 10, senior middle blocker Brittany Brimmage with seven, and freshman outside hitter Katie O’Brien with six. Though despite putting up decent numbers, Davis tallied 30 more kills than the Tigers throughout the four sets.
Defensively, the Tigers had difficulties on serve receive throughout the match, which caused the offensive system some trouble. The most digs tallied by a Tiger was ten by senior libero Priscilla Armendariz.
Davis notched four aces in the first set, Henning hit .375 for the set and the team averaged .310 at the net, but fell 16-25.
The second set displayed defensive improvement in the beginning before Davis kills allowed the score to knot at 14. Big kills by Wilson, Brimmage and O’Brien and a timely block by freshman middle blocker Whitney Little allowed for a 25-21 victory for the Tigers.
Davis’ defense played well against the Tiger offense in the third set while the Tigers once again struggled with ball control. The team scored just 11 points in the defeat, a season low for a set score.
Momentum remained with Davis in the fourth set and they took the match, marking the first loss in tournament play for the Tigers and the second loss so far this season.
Despite the setback, the Tigers came back strong in a sweep against Denver later in the evening.
Henning posted big kill numbers again, leading the team with 11. Brimmage had nine kills on .300 hitting in the three-set match.
Freshmen Wilson and O’Brien were forces on the net with Wilson tallying seven kills and three blocks. O’Brien pulled out four kills and two aces.
Henning’s strong performance in the first set put the Tigers on top with a 25-23 outcome. Sophomore setter Molly Kreklow buried Denver late in the set to rally for the victory before Henning ended it with a kill.
Thirteen kills helped the team continue to overpower Denver in the second set. Brimmage had four kills while Henning and Wilson both put up three. Wilson killed the set point to lead the Tigers into intermission.
A nail-biting score in the third set caused a battle until the end for the Tigers. The team had to come back from behind the entire game, finally tying the match at 18 apiece before a kill and an ace from Kreklow ultimately defeated Denver.
Both Henning and Kreklow were named to the all-tournament team for their efforts. The Tigers finished second place in the tournament with a 3-1 record.