Missouri volleyball’s Melanie Crow held the ball calmly as she prepared to serve in Sunday’s home match against Ole Miss. The junior looked cool and collected, even as she stared down her former team from the other side of the court.
Crow donned a Rebels jersey for three years before trading it in for a Tigers jersey in 2016. On Sunday, she and the rest of the Tigers (11-3, 2-0) swept Ole Miss 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 26-24).
Although she was playing against the team she had played with for three years, Crow tried not to let any outside thoughts distract her from her team and the game.
“I don’t know if it was nerves, but I have a lot of memories with that team,” she said. “My heart is still beating very fast and it never slowed down. But I am very happy that we just swept them.”
Crow and the rest of the Tigers fought hard for their three wins in an evenly-matched game, only beating Ole Miss by three or fewer points in every set. There were 10 total lead changes throughout the match.
Senior Carly Kan had 12 kills on .522 hitting and 10 digs, while Crow led the team in kills with 13 and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Munlyn had huge moments with five kills and three solo blocks, often in key moments.
“Everyone knows the outside hitters because they’re getting a lot of swings, and a lot of what middle blockers do don’t show up in the box score,” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “Alyssa did a phenomenal job today of making herself available so when we did get her the ball, she put away more than not.”
Missouri dominated the first set to take the lead, but Ole Miss took control in the second and third sets. Big blocks by Munlyn and senior Emily Thater helped to turn it around for the Tigers, as well as a few unforced errors on the Rebel side.
“We did a good job of just continuing to play the game,” Kreklow said. “I’m watching this going ‘OK, our only chance right now is we need help,’ and fortunately they rose to the occasion a few times and let us off the hook with an unforced error.”
Ole Miss has strong outside hitters in Lexi Thompson and Kathryn Cather, and Missouri experienced trouble with them the entire match. Thompson hit .414 and Cather hit .550, which is impressive for an outside hitter.
Crow gave Missouri a slight advantage, though, since she knows how Ole Miss plays. She said it helped knowing they were strong in the outside hitting positions so she could prepare her team for that.
Munlyn said the team was thankful for that knowledge, as well as getting to have Crow on the team in the first place. Although Crow stayed relaxed, Munlyn said the rest of the team was excited to get to play Ole Miss and win for Crow.
“She’s been so calm, and we’re all like pumped up, but she’s just like ‘guys, it’s just another game, don’t play different for me,’” Munlyn said. “We wanted that win for her bad, just to show them like, ‘Hey, thanks for adding to our team,’ and just let it be known that she’s really special to us and we appreciate her being here.”
She said she trusted they would get the job done no matter what, and she couldn’t be happier with the results.
“I am so happy and proud to be a part of Mizzou before and after this game,” Crow said. “I know my players and I know the teammates I have on my side and I know they’re going to have my back every single day.”
_Edited by Peter Baugh | pbaugh@themaneater.com_
