Missouri volleyball starts off SEC play 1-1 with a sweep of Louisiana State University and a blown lead against Texas A&M. The Tigers played both games on the road, with a quick turnaround from Baton Rouge, La. on Friday, Sept. 27, to College Station, Texas on Sunday, Sept. 29. Here’s what was learned from the first two conference games.

Big three taking care of business

Missouri’s trio of attackers have come to play at the start of conference games. Outside hitter Mychael Vernon, right side Jordan Iliff and outside hitter Janet DeMarrais had a combined 85 kills over the two matches. Vernon led the way in both games with 17 kills against LSU and 26 against Texas A&M. Her total against the Aggies notched a new career high of kills. 

Iliff had a down game against LSU with seven kills, that total being her second lowest  of the season. She came back strong against Texas A&M with 15 kills. DeMarrais stayed consistent over the two games with nine kills in the first and 11 in the second. 

The three upperclassmen have worked well together to carry the load offensively. Vernon transferred to Missouri from Oregon State this season, leading the team in total kills with 191. Her conference debut of 43 combined kills earned Vernon SEC offensive player of the week. 

The three attackers have efficiently gotten high kill numbers, helping Missouri to the fifth best hitting percentage in the country at .306. The Tigers will look to capitalize on their star trio while they can as Iliff and Vernon do not have any years of eligibility left. 

Too many lapses in crunchtime

The Tigers lost the Texas A&M match largely in part to the amount of errors they made. They led in attack errors in both games and tallied 18 total service errors over the weekend. 

Missouri had 40 attack errors, 26 against the Aggies. In the fifth set of the match, the Tigers committed a service error while trailing by one, losing one final point to lose the match. Missouri has only gone to five sets twice this season, but let up three straight unanswered sets to lose their first five-set match under head coach Dawn Sullivan. 

Even in the sweep against LSU, Missouri finished the match with more errors, making the sets closer than necessary. In the first set, there were 10 total errors, contributing to the close 25-22 final. Missouri accumulated 27 total errors during their final three sets against Texas A&M, opposed to their nine errors in the two sets won. 

Maya Sands getting to the ground

After totaling a career high 542 digs in the 2023 season, Sands has continued her great play and started off strong in the conference stretch. Sands finished with 13 digs in the LSU match and 17 against Texas A&M. The libero ranks 90th in the country with 210 total digs in 47 sets played. She is the reigning SEC libero of the year and a part of the 2023 All-SEC team. Sands made timely saves to close out sets and gave the Tigers a number of second chances.

Sands has started every match for Missouri this season and has yet to have a game with less than 10 digs. She accounted for 30 out of 99 digs in the two game stretch, leading the Tigers. Ever since Sands joined the team in 2023 she has held down the libero spot, starting every match. 

Missouri suffered a tough loss against the Aggies, but looked strong in their 2024 SEC debut. The Tigers will need to minimize the errors that led to allowing a comeback in match two, but have the pieces to be a top team in the conference. 

Missouri is on the road again, playing No.13 Kentucky at 12 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6. 

Edited by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com 

Copyedited by Amelia Schaefer and Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com

Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com