University of Missouri
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Mississippi State
Mizzou Tops Mississippi State Behind 22 Kills from Peltier
10/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Regan Peltier had the best match of her career on Sunday.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -Mizzou volleyball snapped a four-match road losing streak with a 3-2, (23-25, 25-12, 25-13, 22-25, 15-12) win at Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 19) at Newell-Grissom Center. Junior outside hitter Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.) led Mizzou with a career-high 22 kills, doing so on .327 hitting. Peltier was one of three Tigers with double-digit kill totals as senior Emily Wilson (Omaha, Neb.) added 17 kills while sophomore Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) finished with 14 kills and 17 digs, good for her SEC-leading 14th double-double.
"Any time you go on the road, you know it's going to be tough, but we made it much harder on ourselves with a lot of unforced errors today," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "I was happy that we were able to squeeze this one out, but we have to get a lot better."
Senior libero Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) moved into third place on Mizzou's all-time career digs list with 26 on Sunday, giving her 1,386 in her career. She passed Shen Danru, who had 1,372. Her 26 digs are a season-high and just one off of her career-best mark. Senior middle Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) added a team-high five blocks and six kills. But it was all about Peltier, who finished with career-highs in kills (22), attempts (49), points (23) and hitting (12 or more kills, .327). It was Mizzou's fourth 20-kill performance of the season.
Sophomore setter Loxley Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii) spread a career-high 35 assists and freshman Ali Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) added 26 assists. In fact, Mizzou set season-highs in kills (74), attempts (195), assists (65) and aces (10). Keala led the Tigers with three aces on the day and she was one of six different Tigers with aces. Nine different Tigers finished with kills as well.
Mizzou raced out to an 11-6 lead in the first, tallying eight kills on its first 15 swings. But a string of errors allowed MSU to go on a 6-1 run to tie the set at 12-all, forcing a timeout by Wayne Kreklow. Out of the timeout, Mizzou regained a lead at 16-14 but MSU again went on a run and took a 20-18 lead. MSU nearly opened a three-point lead, but a huge solo stuff from Little pulled the Tigers within one and then Kan ended a long rally with back-row kill to even the frame at 20-all.
The Tigers then opened a 21-20 lead, but a 3-0 MSU run put the Bulldogs two points from taking the opening set. Wilson countered with her third kill of the set to pull Mizzou within one at 23-22. Mizzou had multiple swings to tie the set at 24-all, but Kan sent a ball out of bounds from the right side to give MSU the set, 25-23. In six matches against Mizzou, it was the first time the Bulldogs had won a set.
After MSU seemed to have momentum, it was Mizzou who ran out to a 9-2 lead in set two. The Tigers kept the foot on the gas and ran away with the set, 25-12. Mizzou hit .290 in the second with 14 kills and served very tough, keeping MSU out of system. The Bulldogs got just 25 swings and hit .000 with six kills and six errors.
The Tigers then came out of intermission and kept it rolling, opening a 14-5 lead after a kill from Wilson, her seventh of the match. Peltier and Wilson continued to provide the bulk of the offense as Mizzou ran away from MSU to a 25-13 set win. As a team, Mizzou hit .500 with 20 kills in the set, led by six on just seven swings from Peltier. Seven different Tigers tallied kills in the set.
In the fourth, MSU hung tough despite Mizzou running away with both the second and third sets. MSU took a 16-14 lead on a Kan attack error, but Little tallied her fifth kill of the match on an overpass to bring the Tigers back within one and then she buried another overpass on the next point to tie the set at 16-all. But unforced errors cost the Tigers from there as MSU opened a 23-19 lead. Mizzou cut it to 23-21 and had several swings to pull within one, but a big Bulldog block gave them set point at 24-21 and MSU ended it one point later with a 25-22 set win.
In set five, MSU won a long first point and eventually opened a 7-5 lead as there were several long rallies throughout. MSU took an 8-6 lead into the switch and built that to 12-10 before Mizzou scored the final five points of the set to clinch the match with a 15-12 set win.
Mizzou will stay on the road for matches at Florida and South Carolina next weekend. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.
