In front of an energized crowd of 3,613 at the Hearnes Center, the Missouri volleyball team fought tooth and nail against powerhouse Texas. Despite pulling late leads and pushing the Longhorns to the absolute brink in the opening and closing frames, the Tigers ultimately fell in a tight, straight-sets sweep (25-27, 13-25, 23-25).
“The fans are always showing up and they’re incredible,” head coach Dawn Sullivan said. “And so, I’m really grateful for our fans. I think in general we showed moments that,
again, we can play with anybody, just how consistent we can be is the message.”
Adding an extra narrative twist to the Friday night SEC showdown was the return of Texas senior setter Ella Swindle. The Columbia native and former Rock Bridge High School star returned to her hometown court, dishing out 13 total assists to help orchestrate the Longhorns’ attack.
A deconstructive battle of rallies
The Tigers came out swinging in front of the home crowd, using early front-row presence from Kimani Johnson and Tia Phinezy to claim a quick lead. After a block by Johnson and Phinezy pushed the lead to 9-7, Mizzou capitalized on a key Texas challenge reversal to make it 11-9.
Mizzou had their biggest run of the match midway through the set. Sparked by back-to-back kills from Grace O’Reilly, a Paige Felder service ace and consecutive strikes from Lauren Larkin and O’Reilly, Mizzou exploded on a 7-0 run to take a commanding 19-12 lead, forcing Texas to call a timeout.
“I think we put a lot of pressure on them with our serve,” Felder said. “They were out of system a lot, and they made a lot of unforced errors. So, it just helped us out in that first set.”
Texas slowly chipped away behind heavy swings from Henley Anderson and Torrey Stafford. Mizzou maintained set point opportunities at 24-23 and 25-24 following clutch kills by Felder and an attack error from Stafford. However, Texas’ hard-hit swings closed out a marathon opening set 27-25.
Longhorns take control
Texas seized momentum early in the second frame. A Nya Bunton kill, a block by Stafford and Bunton and an unforced error gave Texas an immediate 3-0 lead. Mizzou quickly leveled the score at 4-4, backed by errors from the Longhorns and kills from Felder and Larkin during a 3-0 surge.
Soon enough, a Mizzou service error handed Texas a 5-4 edge and brought Swindle into the match. With Swindle at the service line, Texas immediately extended its lead to 7-4 on back-to-back kills from Stafford.
O’Reilly stopped the push with a kill for Mizzou, but Texas answered with a 3-0 run. Swindle recorded her first assist of the set on a Longhorn kill, followed by a Stafford service ace and another Texas kill to stretch the Longhorns’ lead to 10-5.
Mizzou could not find an answer for Texas at the net. Another 3-0 run by the Longhorns featuring a kill, a block and another Stafford kill sent the match to the media timeout at 15-9. Out of the stoppage, Bunton pushed the margin to 16-10.
After Mizzou cut it to 12-18 on a Larkin kill, Texas put the set out of reach with a 4-0 run behind heavy swings and a block from Henley Anderson. O’Reilly stopped the run briefly, but back-to-back points from the Longhorns set up set point, which ultimately led to the Tigers’ 25-13 Set 2 loss on a bad set.
Late surge falls just short in Set 3
Refusing to go quietly, Mizzou re-energized in the third frame behind balanced contributions from Eva Smith, Maca Lobaglio and Ceylin Kuyan in a frame featuring 10 ties.
Trailing 12-15 at the media timeout following consecutive attack errors, Mizzou trimmed the margin out of the break with a Kuyan kill and a block assist from Kuyan and Larkin. Texas pushed back to take an 18-15 lead following a block from Anderson and Bunton, forcing a Mizzou timeout. The Tigers responded with a 3-0 run out of the stoppage. A Texas service error, an Eva Smith kill and a Paige Felder kill tied the set at 18-18.
The Longhorns reclaimed momentum with back-to-back kills from Anderson and Stafford to make it 20-18. Felder answered with a kill for Mizzou, but Stafford countered to keep Texas ahead 21-19. After trading kills from Felder and Cari Spears, Sierra Dudley executed a clutch kill to bring Mizzou within one at 21-22. Stafford answered once more for Texas to set up a 23-21 lead.
With their backs against the wall, Larkin delivered in the clutch for Mizzou, pounding home back-to-back kills off Dudley assists to tie the set at 23-23. However, Texas responded on the very next rally with a kill to earn set point at 24-23. On the final play, Anderson put away the match-winning kill, surviving a final Mizzou video challenge to lock up the 25-23 victory.
Key match stats
Felder had 12 kills on the night with one ace, three digs and one block assist. O’Reilly had eight kills, three digs and one block assist. Larkin claimed seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage, while Ainoah Cruz had 18 Digs, and one assist.
Mizzou will look to bounce back at home on Sunday, Nov. 8, when the Tigers host No. 16 Texas A&M at 2 p.m. for their last home game of the regular season.
