Missouri volleyball earned the marquee victory of head coach Dawn Sullivan’s tenure on Sunday, defeating Tennessee in a five-set marathon (21-25, 25-21, 24-26, 27-25, 15-9) at the Hearnes Center.
This victory marked the highest-ranked win under Sullivan and moved the Tigers to 14-9 overall and 7-4 in SEC play. Playing in front of a festive home crowd celebrating “Volloween” and Junior Tigers Day, Mizzou erased a 2-1 match deficit and fought off match point in the fourth set to secure the tiebreaker
win.
“I think for us it’s more just, I feel really proud of this group and the time and the energy, and just the development and growth they’ve had throughout the season,” Sullivan said. “I’ve felt this for a while, this group, they’re starting to catch fire and it’s really fun to watch them. It’s fun to watch them in timeouts. It’s fun to watch them when they’re on the court.”
Answering the call at the net
After surrendering a close opening set, Mizzou took the floor in Set 2 with new energy. Kimani Johnson came out strong with double back-to-back kills down the line to jump out to a 4-2 lead. The Volunteers counter-attacked with a 7-2 run to take a 9-6 advantage, but kills from Eva Smith, Paige Felder and a Lydia Stahley tool kill kept the Tigers within striking distance.
Coming out of the media timeout trailing 15-12, Smith sparked a comeback with consecutive kills at the net. Johnson then buried an equalizer at 17-17, and after trading blows down the stretch, Mizzou found itself locked in a 20-20 deadlock.
Johnson claimed her 10th kill of the day to make it 21-20, followed immediately by a successful video challenge by Sullivan that overturned an attack error into a Mizzou point. Grace O’Reilly and Smith then locked arms on a massive double block to give Mizzou set point at 24-21, before Smith capped the set with a monster solo block, sealing the 25-21 equalizer.
A grinding extra-points battle
The third set turned into a slugfest featuring 11 ties and six lead changes. Trailing 1-5 early, Mizzou climbed back into the frame behind the spark of Ceylin Kuyan off the bench, paired with back-to-back kills from O’Reilly and a service ace by Larkin to tie the set at 13-13.
The two squads traded blows into extra points. Down 22-23, Johnson came through with a clutch kill to knot the score at 23-23, and Kuyan saved a set point at 24-24. Tennessee answered back with a block and a hard-driven kill from Kennedi Rogers to claim the frame 26-24 and take a 2-1 match lead.
Batting injuries and erasing match point
Facing elimination after dropping Set 3, Mizzou’s resilience was tested to its absolute limit. Trailing early, the Tigers fought back on the shoulders of Smith and O’Reilly, who combined for three blocks in a four-point stretch to turn a deficit into a 6-4 lead. The teams then traded points into the mid-set, with Smith briefly limping off after a net collision, finishing her day with five kills and six blocks. Kills from Kuyan, O’Reilly and Stahley pushed Mizzou back in front 15-13.
The set reached peak chaos on the very next point at 15-14, when Larkin took a hard, point-blank hit directly to the face on a Tennessee kill and had to step off the floor.
Refusing to fold, Larkin returned soon after, and immediately made her presence felt, hammering down a kill to tie it at 20-20 before teaming up with Kimani Johnson for a massive block to put Mizzou ahead 21-20.
“I specifically looked her in the eye and I said, that’s how you get that girl back,” Johnson said. “That fired me up so much.”
When Tennessee responded with back-to-back points to put the Tigers on the brink of losing at 24-22, Mizzou executed. Felder saved the first match point with a kill, and a successful video challenge by Sullivan tied the frame at 24-24. After Tennessee tied it again at 25-25, Larkin took over with a clutch kill and service ace for a 26-25 lead. Felder and Tia Phinezy then met at the tape to lock up the 27-25 win and force a decisive fifth set.
Dominant tiebreaker finish
With the fans cheering going into the decider, Mizzou put its foot on the gas and never looked back. Phinezy set the tone on the very first play with a kill, while Johnson put up a brick wall at the net, scoring a solo block and a back-to-back kill sequence to hand Mizzou a commanding 8-5 cushion.
After a crucial Tennessee challenge failed to overturn a net violation, Stahley pushed the score to 13-9 with a kill. From there, O’Reilly hammered home back-to-back kills, putting away match point at 15-9 to trigger an explosion of joy on the court as the Tigers celebrated their signature ranked win.
Stat leaders
Mizzou’s attack was led by Johnson, who claimed a career-high of 16 kills, and O’Reilly, who also hammered home 16. Alongside them, Stahley chipped in 11 kills of her own. The Tigers established a physical presence at the net with 14 total team blocks, anchored by Smith with six, Johnson with five and Larkin with four.
Primary ball-handling duties were split cleanly between Mizzou setters Sierra Dudley and Nina Mandovic, who dished out 27 and 25 assists. Ainoah Cruz also did her part, with 29 digs for the Tigers.
Tennessee’s effort was spearheaded by Kennedi Rogers with a team and day high of 20 kills, along with a massive performance from Caroline Kerr with 51 assists and 20 digs.
Mizzou will return to the Hearnes Center Friday, Nov. 6, to host Texas for a night matchup set for 7 p.m.
