For the third week in a row, Missouri volleyball continued the pattern of going winless on Fridays and undefeated on Sundays.
The streak originally started Sept. 21, when the Tigers fell to Florida in straight sets on a Friday night only to upset heavily-favored Louisiana State University 3-1 just two days later. On Sept. 28, Missouri returned home to host Texas A&M in a losing 3-1 effort before wiping out Georgia in straight sets Sept. 30.
This past weekend, Missouri continued the trend, first by losing on the road to Tennessee 3-2.
The tides turned for Missouri in its second meeting with the Volunteers, who the Tigers upset Sept. 12. The Tigers were able to force the match into a fifth set, winning the second and fourth sets 25-23 and 25-22, respectively. But Missouri couldn’t pull it off in the final set and lost 15-11.
Regardless of the loss, coach Wayne Kreklow said he is still confident in his team’s abilities.
“I was proud of the way we competed tonight — it’s just one of those matches where someone comes out on the wrong end,” he said in a news release. “Things didn’t look great for us after the first set, but we did a nice job of regrouping and had a chance to really take control of the match in the third set, but we let it slip away. But again we battled back in the fourth. I am proud of our effort tonight.”
Kreklow’s confidence seemed to be justified two days later, when the Tigers delivered a thrashing to Alabama on Sunday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., winning 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16).
From a statistical standpoint, several of Missouri’s players had a successful weekend. Junior outside hitter Lisa Henning earned a pair of double-doubles with 25 kills and 17 digs against Tennessee and 23 kills and 16 digs against Alabama. Sophomore middle blocker Whitney Little found success on both sides of the ball over the weekend, racking up 14 kills on .448 hitting and averaging 2.11 blocks per set for both matchups. Little currently leads the SEC in blocks per set with a 2.03 average.
The Tigers will play Mississippi State on Sunday at the Hearnes Center before embarking on a four-game road trip.
