Missouri volleyball may be in the early stages of figuring out its remodeled roster, but the new group was clicking in Puerto Rico all weekend. It finished off an impressive trifecta of wins Sunday, snapping Arizona State’s five-match winning streak with a 3-1 victory in the last match of the Puerto Rico Invitational in San Juan.
The Tigers started off the match slow, losing the first set to the Sun Devils 25-19 before turning things around and sweeping the last three sets. They hit just .143 in the first set loss, while Arizona State tallied 12 kills and a .296 hitting percentage.
The second and third sets both featured several lead changes early on, but Missouri was able to hang on to the lead in both, winning the second set 25-21 and the third 25-20.
Missouri took control in the fourth set. After the score was tied 2-2, the Tigers went on a 4-0 run that gave them the lead for good. The team tallied a total of 56 kills in the match, hitting .255. They also recorded 14 blocks and 7 aces.
San Juan natives Andrea Fuentes and Dariana Hollingsworth led the Tigers with 32 assists and 13 kills, respectively, while Hollingsworth added 7 blocks. Leketor Member-Meneh and Kylie Deberg also had 12 kills each. Riley Sents and Fuentes had 16 and 13 digs, respectively, and Alyssa Munlyn led the Tigers with 9 blocks.
“I was very pleased with tonight’s overall performance,” coach Wayne Kreklow said in a press release. “After a slow start in the first set, we were able to recoup and really got dialed-in to what Arizona State was doing. Dariana [Hollingsworth] came up big tonight and had her best match of the season thus far. Arizona State is a very good team and we had to really step it up tonight. I told the team after the match that what I was most proud of was the fact that they pulled themselves together when things weren’t going well. They did it on their own. All good teams have to be able to do that.”
Missouri will head to Towson, Md. for the Towson Invitational next Friday and Saturday, but for now, it will be a happy ride home for the streaking Tigers.
_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com_