“Point Mizzou,” public address announcer Aric Bremer called each time Missouri volleyball scored a point Friday night at Mizzou Arena. Though this is the normal call, the specification was necessary.
In the battle of Tigers at Mizzou Arena on Friday, the Tigers of Missouri defeated the Tigers of Auburn in four sets. Missouri is undefeated at home this season. The win extended the team’s winning streak to five games.
“Our hitters are doing a good job of making good choices overall,” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “We became very hard to stop because you can’t key in on any one person.”
Four Missouri players finished the match with at least nine kills. Sophomore Kylie Deberg — 14 kills, 12 digs — and redshirt freshman Andrea Fuentes — 38 assists, 13 digs — each finished with double-doubles.
“Andrea is doing a great job of taking marginal balls and bettering them,” Kreklow said.
Missouri started right where it left off last weekend on its Mississippi road trip by extending its consecutive set win streak to 14, dominating the first two sets.
Missouri (17-4) (7-2 SEC) limited Auburn to a .046 hit percentage through two sets. Going into the match, the team led the Southeastern Conference in opponent hitting percentage at .152. Redshirt junior Riley Sents was a big contributor to the defensive success, finishing the match with a career high 30 digs.
“Sents did a good job defensively digging hard hit balls,” Kreklow said. “We’re doing a good job of putting continuous pressure on the other team and not making it easy for them to score points.”
After cruising to a 2-0 lead, the third set did not yield the same results. The tides turned and the Tigers of Auburn avoided being swept for its fourth straight game, winning the set 25-21. The Tigers of Missouri hit just .108 and committed six errors. It was also the first set the team lost since its loss to Kentucky on Sept. 30.
Missouri came back strong in the fourth set, cementing the victory, winning the set 25-16. After the game, sophomore Dariana Hollingsworth talked about how losing the set allowed for the team to reset.
“That was a wake up call for us to not lean back and to keep working,” Hollingsworth said.
Missouri will travel to Gainesville, Florida, to take on No. 11 Florida on Sunday at noon CST.
_Edited by Adam Cole | acole@themaneater.com_