The Tigers volleyball team opened the season with a pair of sweeps in South Florida. Mizzou looks to improve to 4-0 with a pair of road games against Arkansas State. The Red Wolves played in the Georgia Tech Classic, finishing 1-2 with losses to Power 4 teams Ole Miss and host-Georgia Tech. Here’s what you should know heading into the Tigers’ trip to Jonesboro.
Talkin’ Transfers
For a Mizzou team undergoing massive roster changes, they will rely heavily on their four new transfers this season. Three made their Tiger
debut this past weekend, including two who played in every set.
Hawaii transfer Caylen Alexander made waves in her first two games of the year, leading the team with 31 kills and an attacking percentage of .310. She stepped up when the team needed her most, pulling through with 17 kills during the sweep against FGCU.
USC transfer and middle blocker Tyrah Ariail made a big impact in her first two games as a starter. Ariail racked up 16 kills with a hitting percentage of .429. She led the team in blocks with 6.0 including a pair of solo blocks.
“Tyrah did a really nice job taking control that match and holding the whole front line,” head coach Dawn Sullivan said this week during media availability.
“Being in the middle and being able to find her from anywhere is really impressive. But then also just the way she moved on the court in her block, just really impressed with the work she put in during that match. She worked really, really hard to become available.”
The duo were instrumental in helping the Tigers win both matchups in South Florida in straight sets. As seniors, Alexander and Ariail enter the year with a vast amount of collegiate volleyball experience for a team with Final Four aspirations.
Defensive Domination
One of the main things that stuck out to Coach Sullivan about the Tigers’ first two games was the defensive performance. Four separate Tigers finished the weekend with double-digit digs, including some big-time plays from Alexander. Senior libero Maya Sands surprised no one by leading the team with 27 digs at 4.5 per set. Another defensive standout was freshman libero Zoey Matias-Lopez, who finished with 18 digs through her first two collegiate games.
Outside of the digs, the Tigers worked to control the net with 10.0 blocks against James Madison and FGCU. In addition to Ariail’s 6.0 blocks, freshman outside hitter Paige Felder finished the weekend with 5.0 and senior middle blocker Regan Haith with 4.0; yes, I know the math doesn’t add up. Multiple people can be credited with one full block even if it counts as one team block.
“ I thought we got to start to see a little bit of Mizzou volleyball with how relentless they were on defense and the way they were adapting and kind of getting after it. And so just really impressed with who they were,” Sullivan said.
Player Spotlight: Kimani Johnson
One player who surprised me this weekend was redshirt-junior right side/middle blocker Kimani Johnson. In her first action since 2023, Johnson finished the weekend second on the team in kills with 21. She was hyper efficient, finishing with a .700 hitting percentage; the highest on the team with 10+ attempts.
Johnson played her freshman year at Eastern Tennessee State in 2022, registering 138 kills and 58.0 total blocks. She then transferred to Mizzou in 2023, recruited by Sullivan ahead of her first season at Mizzou. Kimani played in 21 sets, totaling 22 kills. She took the last year off to redshirt before stepping back into the spotlight to start 2025.
“She was fearless,” Sullivan said. “But I was just really impressed with her performance and the way she continued to grit and just do what she’s done day-in and day-out.”
While Johnson didn’t start over the weekend, she played a major role for the team. We will see if Kimani cracks the starting lineup against Arkansas State in Jonesboro.
Game 1 starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday from First Bank Arena. Game 2 starts at 6 p.m. on Friday from Valley View High School. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
