Mizzou volleyball wins pair at home; looks ahead to Sunday showdown with FGCU

Mizzou swept Wichita State 25-19, 25-13, 25-18 Saturday in the Mizzou Tournament at the Hearnes Center.

Fresh off her first double-digit kill match of the season, right side hitter Grace O'Reilly opened the match Saturday with a kill. O'Reilly left her mark on the match once again with nine kills, two blocks and a service ace.

Mizzou coach Dawn Sullivan was proud of the senior's effort during the match.

"She just took some big rips," Sullivan said. "(She) got an opportunity to go back there and serve and ripped it back in the service line."

O'Reilly's performance was noteworthy, but Set 1 was highlighted by an unexpected duo.

Piper Batie and Kimani Johnson had an unstoppable connection early, as Johnson pushed the Tigers' lead to 8-5 with back-to-back kills. She finished with five kills in the set and seven in the match.

With starting setter Nina Mandovic out, Dudley got the start and Batie received significant playing time for the second day in a row. The two setters spread the ball around and kept both pins and the middle involved to create a less predictable attack.

Mizzou pulled out to a 12-7 lead before Wichita State tied the set at 14. Sophomore Paige Felder killed the next point, allowing Mizzou to regroup during the media timeout.

From there, it was all Missouri. The Tigers went on a 6-2 run to make it 20-16. Despite Wichita State's best efforts, Felder set it over the net to get Mizzou to set point. Two points later, Felder came right back with another to close the set. She finished with nine in the match on 23 attempts.

Set 2 was another thwarting for the Tigers, with O'Reilly leading the way with six kills. Mizzou opened the set on a 5-0 run thanks in part to a Lauren Larkin block and a pair of O'Reilly kills. Wichita State pulled a little closer before the Tigers pushed the lead back to five.

Mizzou led 19-12 after O'Reilly placed a ball perfectly in the back corner for a kill. The Tigers cruised from there to a Set 2 win, finishing on a 6-1 run.

"I just have a lot of confidence, in this team," O'Reilly said. "I know that I can take big rips, and they're gonna cover me."

She then gave high praise to her libero, Ainoah Cruz, calling her the scrappiest libero in the Southeastern Conference. Cruz nearly injured herself in the first set after sliding into one of the poles that holds up the net while she was trying to keep a ball alive. She ended with 13 digs in the match, putting her one away from 1,500 career digs.

After a block from Eva Smith and an ace from O'Reilly's top-spin serve , the Tigers jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third set. Mizzou, for the third time in the match, got out to a 12-7 lead and coasted to the Set 3 win for the sweep.

"I thought our team played really clean tonight," Sullivan said. "It was really fun to, one, just kind of see them find their rhythm out there. I thought we played great defense. We continue to dig that ball up, and we served really tough to put a lot of pressure on their team."

Mizzou finished with 40 kills with a .368 hit percentage, 10 blocks and six aces.

Sullivan, who has been hounding her team about serving tough this season, felt her team finally took a step in that direction.

"We had multiple people go back there and serve three balls in a row and that's always something we talk a lot about," Sullivan said. "And then once you get them pressured, how do we now just keep that ball in."

The Tigers also had eight service errors.

Ceylin Kuyan and Larkin each finished with five kills, and Larkin added five blocks to her sheet. Smith also had five blocks and added three kills plus an ace.

Mizzou plays Florida Gulf Coast at noon Sunday at the Hearnes Center.

On Friday, Mizzou volleyball struggled early against Arkansas State but rallied to win in four sets 15-25, 25-21, 25-23, 26-24 at the Hearnes Center.

After splitting the first two sets, the third featured back-and-forth action between the two as both teams stayed within a couple of points of each other. But the Tigers separated with the score tied at 15, going on a 6-1 run to force an Arkansas timeout.

O'Reilly turned it up in the set, recording six kills and a block. O'Reilly finished the match with a .400 attack percentage, the highest on the team of any player with 10 or more attempts.

Dudley served up an ace to complete the Set 4 comeback and secure the 3-1 win. Dudley, who entered in place of Mandovic, provided an aggression that the Tigers needed. She filled the stat sheet with four kills, five digs, a block, two service aces and 36 assists.

"I was just trying to be agressive in kind of chaos situations," Dudley said after the match. "When everybody's moving along the court and running back to base, and the block isn't really set, just trying to be aggressive then."

Not only does the aggression make Dudley good, but it allows different opportunities for her teammates to create.

Set 2 saw plenty of push and pull between the two teams, neither wanting to give an inch. The Tigers cleaned up the attack with a .333 hit percentage and 16 kills. O'Reilly made an impact with four kills. She finished the match with a team-leading 13 kills, working into a rhythm with her connection with Dudley.

"Sierra and I just have a really great connection," O'Reilly said. "I trust her so much and I know she trusts me as well."

The Tigers finally hit a run late in the set with four straight points behind a pair of Smith aces that led them to take the set. Smith finished with three kills, the two aces and six blocks up front.

It was all Arkansas State in Set 1 as Mizzou couldn't find any rhythm on either side. After a 4-0 run from the Red Wolves to open the match, the Tigers stormed back to even the match at six apiece. Arkansas State then took the Tigers on an 8-3 run and held the set in firm control from then on.

Mizzou's offense struggled in the set with a -0.034 hitting percentage. The Tigers had more attack errors (seven) than they did kills (six) in the set and added three receiving errors and a service error.

Though the Tigers found themselves in that spot after one set, a mentality shift was what the doctor ordered.

"We just wanted to focus on ourselves more," O'Reilly said. "We were doing a lot of 'they're doing this and that and this,' and then we just decided, like, we need to play Mizzou volleyball."

The Tigers did just that, battling to a 3-1 victory.

Missouri hit .264 on 129 total attack attempts with 51 total kills. Felder secured 10 kills, Ceylin Kuyan had nine, Larkin had eight and Dudley and Johnson each killed four. 

Cruz led the way with 15 digs. Kuyan dug out 11, Felder and Claire Morrissey each had 10.

The Tigers have now beat Arkansas State in its last two matchups with the program. 

Mizzou soccer falls after slow start against Oklahoma

Mizzou goalkeeper Riley Wilkerson stood in front of a rowdy group of Sooners supporters and an impossible first-half challenge led to the Tigers falling 3-1 to Oklahoma on Friday night in Norman, Oklahoma.

Oklahoma recorded seven shots, including six shots on goal, before halftime. The Sooners scored three goals in the first 28 minutes, enough to carry them to the eventual win.

Wilkerson recorded six saves in Mizzou's Southeastern Conference opener.

Emily Derucki scored Mizzou's lone goal of the game in the second half, a left-footed strike that was neatly tucked inside the far-right post. Freshman Lana Adams recorded an assist on the play.

The Tigers, who failed to record a shot on goal in the first half, found their groove after halftime. They had a more even share of possession, but couldn't find the final pass to set up the goals.

Mizzou's best scoring opportunity after the goal came on a penalty kick with roughly five minutes remaining in the match. However, Riley Morse could not convert from the penalty spot, keeping the match 3-1.

The win was OU's first over Mizzou since 2006; the Tigers entered Friday's contest with six straight wins over the Sooners.

Mizzou (3-4-1, 0-1 SEC) will look to rebound against Kentucky at 6 p.m. Friday in Columbia.