MIssouri coach Wayne Kreklow could only stand on the sideline and grimace.

Just as the Tigers started to gain much-needed momentum in the second set against LSU Friday night, Julia Towler served one right into the net.

OK, on to the next one.

On the following Mizzou serve, facing a set point, Ali Kreklow geared up to soar it. Out of bounds.

“Somebody inevitably starts the avalanche of unforced errors,” Wayne Kreklow said. “And it doesn’t take much to start.”

It was a frustrating night at the Hearnes Center for Missouri as it fell to Louisiana State in a three-set sweep. It was the little things that hurt the Tigers the most. Passing, serving, setting, — it didn’t matter — they struggled.

“The frustrating thing is we’re doing good things, but we’re doing too many bad things,” Wayne Kreklow said.

Mizzou’s own faults would prove to be its own demise. The Tigers on the other side of the net were not the culprits tonight, according to Wayne Kreklow.

“Once again, I thought we beat ourselves,” he said. “LSU does a lot of good things, but if you look back at those three games, it was just repeat, repeat, repeat. At some point in those three games, the bottom would just fall out.”

The bottom fell out most notably at the end of the second set after those two straight service errors set both teams to the locker rooms.

Wayne Kreklow has continually talked about the need to stop short runs from opponents, but his Tigers apparently haven’t caught on. It was the small spurts and service holds that helped LSU defeat Mizzou in their first Southeastern Conference home loss since November of 2012.

“We score two, give up four. And you’re just not going to win like that,” he said.

Nothing seemed to be consistent. Serving was erratic, positioning was sloppy, and communication was confused.

There were numerous moments during the match where it was unclear who was supposed to be where and the rampant collisions made it clear to anyone watching that the Tigers were not all on the same page.

“We have too many people making bonehead mistakes that we shouldn’t be making,” Wayne Kreklow said. “We try to minimize those things and keep our message consistent.”

Consistency has been an ongoing problem for the Tigers this season. Every night there’s a new star and a new goat. It’s come to the point where so few players can produce well from night to night.

“Even our inconsistencies are inconsistent,” Wayne Kreklow said. “It’s tough to deal with because it’s somebody different at some position every night.”

If there is a positive takeaway for the Tigers, a new star had her chance to shine Friday night. Freshman Kasey Reuter got her chance to start with Sydney Deeken out with a concussion, and she proved herself. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter attacked at a team-high .412 and recorded nine kills.

It was her first start of the season, but the freshman thrived through the adversity of both the start and discouraging match.

“It was a lot of fun getting to start and represent my school well,” Reuter said. “The coaches do a great job of putting you in adverse situations in practice, so that happened tonight.”