University of Missouri
Tennessee
Mizzou Rallies to Defeat Tennessee, 3-1
11/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Emily Thater continued her fine play as of late on Friday
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Mizzou volleyball defeated Tennessee, 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21), on Friday night (Nov. 7) at Thompson-Boling Arena. The win improves the Tigers to 15-12 and 6-6 in SEC play. The win is the Tigers' second consecutive win in Knoxville and it was anchored by another stellar performance from sophomore All-American Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) who paced the Tigers with 13 kills and eight digs. Classmate Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.) continued her torrid pace as of late with 10 kills on .471 hitting. In all, six different Tigers posted six or more kills in the win.
"Any time you can go on the road and win in league play, it feels good," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "I thought we came out a little flat, but we did a nice job of regrouping. Our offense was really balanced and we got a lot of offense from a lot of different places. Now we need to shift our focus to a very good Kentucky team on Sunday."
Thater's 10 kills are her most since Sept. 11 at Idaho when she had 12 and she now has 24 kills on .367 hitting over her last three matches. Aside from Kan and Thater, Mizzou got nice performances from several players. Senior All-American Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) added eight kills and three blocks and classmate Emily Wilson (Omaha, Neb.) also tallied eight kills, doing so on .333 hitting. Little tallied her eight kills on .400 hitting as well. Junior Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.) added six kills and two blocks. Freshman Kasey Reuter (Sioux City, Iowa) added eight kills, seven digs and three blocks.
Freshman setter Ali Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) posted her first career double-double with 13 assists and a career-high 14 digs. Sophomore Loxley Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii) spread a team-high 27 assists and pulled in 10 digs, her 12th double-double of the season, which is second in the SEC behind only Kan. Senior libero Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) pulled in 21 digs, her most since Oct. 19 at Mississippi State.
Despite hitting .400 in the early stages of set one, Mizzou fell behind 9-6 after several unforced errors while struggling to slow Tennessee, which posted seven kills on its first 10 attempts. Reuter then sparked the Tigers on a 7-2 run as they took a 13-11 lead. Tennessee regained the lead late in the set at 19-17 after an ace and a kill from Raina Hembry. That lead stuck as Tennessee took the set, 25-20. Reuter led Mizzou with four kills in the first and the Tigers hit .316, but UT hit .390 in the first with 18 kills.
In set two, Mizzou jumped out to an early 11-7 lead on Thater's fifth kill of the match as she, Kan and Reuter continued to provide an offensive punch for Mizzou. UT then went on a 3-0 run to pull within two at 15-13 as Wayne Kreklow called time to rally his team. And rally they did, opening a 20-15 lead and closing out the set at 25-19. Kan led the Tigers with seven kills through two sets.
In set three, things stayed close early, but Mizzou dominated behind the balanced offensive attack and opened a 19-9 lead before UT rattled off four in a row to pull within six, prompting a timeout. UT scored another out of the stoppage but Mizzou got a huge kill from Thater for point No. 20, her ninth of the match. That stopped the run and allowed Mizzou to pull away with a 25-20 set win.
Mizzou's passing broke down early in set four as UT opened a 3-1 lead after a pair of over-passes by Meister. The Tigers rallied to tie the set at 5-5 and things stayed close until a 3-0 run gave UT a 13-10 lead midway through the frame. That sparked a 7-1 Mizzou run as the Tigers went on top, 17-14. Mizzou opened a 21-19 lead and Reuter `s serving allowed Mizzou to pull away to a 25-21 set win, clinching the match.
The Tigers will head to Lexington, Kent., for an 11 a.m. match on Sunday. The contest will air live on the SEC Network. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.
