University of Missouri
Kansas City
Mizzou Falls at UMKC in Monday Match
10/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Whitney Little tallied the 117th solo block in her career for her 10th school record.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Mizzou volleyball lost to in-state rival UMKC, 3-1 (19-25, 15-25, 25-23, 18-25) on Monday evening (Oct. 13) at Swinney Recreation Center. Senior middle Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) tallied the 118th solo block of her career in set four, giving her the school record in that category, her 10th school record. Mizzou was led on the night by sophomore All-American Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii), who finished with 19 kills on .280 hitting with 12 digs. The match is Kan's SEC-leading 13th double-double.
"Give credit to UMKC - they played well tonight," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "We weren't ready to go and you can't afford to do that when you're on the road. We didn't make it easier on ourselves tonight. We made errors in key spots and didn't respond very well when things didn't go our way. Proud of the fight we showed in game three, but we needed to come out sharper in set four."
Little pitched in six kills as did Sydney Deeken (California, Mo.) and Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.). Sophomore Loxley Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii) tallied her 10th double-double of the season with a match-high 29 assists and 14 digs, the latter of which was just one off of a career-high. Senior libero Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) pulled in a team-best 17 digs in the loss as well. Nine different Tigers tallied kills.
UMKC, behind a loud home crowd, opened an 8-3 lead as the Tigers were sluggish in the opening part of the frame. Mizzou rallied within two at 11-9 and stayed close. Another run pulled the Tigers within one at 19-18, but UMKC scored three in a row and that is all that they needed to put the set away, 25-19. The Roos hit .333 in the opening set. Kan led Mizzou with five kills in the frame, but UMKC scored six of the last seven points to win the set.
The Roos continued to fire on all cylinders in set two, racing out to a 7-2 lead as they extended their run to 13-3 going back when Mizzou pulled within 19-18 in set one. UMKC kept that five-point cushion and opened a big lead midway through the set and went on top with a 25-15 set win. Little tallied a solo block late in the frame as she tied the school's career record with 117 in three and half seasons.
Out of the intermission, Mizzou battled early in the set, but a series of errors gave UMKC a 9-5 lead. Mizzou rallied to tie the score at 11-all after a kill from Peltier. UMKC reopened a two-point lead at 15-13 and that lead stood until UMKC buried an overpass to put the Roos up 19-16. Mizzou then went on a 5-2 run to tie the set at 21-21. Mizzou then got a huge overpass kill from Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.) and Keala notched a great setter dump to clinch the set, 25-23.
Despite the win in set three, it was UMKC that came out and took an early lead on five consecutive errors by the Tigers. That prompted a timeout from Wayne Kreklow. While Mizzou rallied after the timeout, it struggled to close that five-point gap. Kan blasted her 17th kill to pull Mizzou within two at 14-12 and Little slammed one in the middle on the next point to close the gap to one. Little then tallied another solo stuff, her school-record 118th in her career, tying the set at 16-all. But UMKC ran off three in a row, two on Tiger errors, forcing a timeout from Coach Kreklow. UMKC then ran away with the set, 25-18.
Mizzou will return to action on Friday as LSU comes to the Hearnes Center for a 6 p.m. match on the SEC Network. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.
