Missouri (4-0, 0-0 SEC) defeated three teams at the Dayton Invitational Friday and Saturday, leaving with the best record of all the participants.
The Tigers opened the invitational with a 3-0 sweep against No. 14 Michigan (4-2) on Friday morning. The Tigers beat the Wolverines 25-12, 25-13, 25-23 in three total sets. Junior outside hitter Kylie Deberg contributed 15 kills and .636 hitting during the match. It was the second consecutive match where she has led the Tigers in kills.
Redshirt sophomore Andrea Fuentes recorded 30 assists and three blocks at setter and junior middle blocker Tyanna Omazic posted 11 kills and two blocks of her own. Omazic has recorded double-digit kills on .500-plus hitting in each match played this season.
“This is huge,” coach Joshua Taylor said. “We performed well in virtually every aspect of the game this morning. A performance like this against a great opponent in Michigan gives us a lot of confidence.”
Missouri won its third game of the season when it took on the University of Dayton (3-4) Friday evening in four sets, winning the match 3-1. Collectively, Missouri averaged .356 hitting with 51 kills compared to Dayton’s .176 hitting and 41 kills.
Once again, the match saw Deberg leading the Tigers in kills with 19. Redshirt sophomore Kayla Caffey, junior Leketor Member-Meneh and Omazic also each recorded seven or more kills of their own. The Tigers topped the Flyers 25-22, 17-25, 25-16, 25-10.
“I was real pleased with how we bounced back after the second set,” Taylor said. “We put our foot on the pedal in sets three and four and really executed well.”
On Friday alone, Missouri averaged 13.29 kills and.400-plus hitting per set each match while the Tigers had four players individually hit .450-plus.
On Saturday, Missouri took on Northern Illinois University (2-5) in its third match of the Dayton Invitational. The Tigers defeated NIU 3-1 with set scores of 25-12, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17.
As she did the day prior, Deberg continued to lead the team in kills with a career-high of 25 against the Huskies. Omazic matched her season-high 13 kills and set a career-high hitting percentage of .722.
“We struggled a bit with serve and pass [Saturday], but credit to the ladies for stepping up in big moments,” Taylor said. “I think we’ve clicked well all four matches so far this year.”
After sweeping the Dayton Invitational, the Tigers advance to 4-0 on the season. Their next match will be at their home invitational which starts Friday, Sept. 13 against Austin Peay (1-5).
_Edited by Emily Leiker | eleiker@themaneater.com_
