University of Missouri
Seton Hall
Mizzou Uses Defense to Sweep Seton Hall
9/7/2013 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sep 7, 2013
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Mizzou volleyball team improved to 7-0 for the first time since 2010 with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-15) sweep over Seton Hall in its second match of the Yale Invitational on Saturday morning (Sept. 7). Senior All-American Lisa Henning (Blue Spring, Mo.) led Mizzou with 14 kills on .429 hitting and freshman Julia Towler (Blue Springs, Mo.) came off the bench and matched the Mizzou rally scoring record with five solo blocks as the Tigers are off to their best start since their Sweet 16 team in 2010. Mizzou limited Seton Hall to .000 hitting in the match with a season-high 13 blocks while tallying 50 digs, a three-set season-high.
"The challenge in these tournaments is having to play early matches after playing late and I thought we did a good job this morning of coming back after a big win last night," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "Seton Hall won 18 games last year and brought back a lot of kids so that is another good win for us early in the season."
Aside from Henning, Mizzou got six kills on 12 attacks from junior Emily Wilson (Omaha, Neb.). Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) and Carly Kan (Honolulu, Haw.) each added six kills while Towler pitched in three while leading the team with six total blocks. Sophomore Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.) also came in and added six kills. The Tigers posted 13.0 blocks in just three sets, highlighted by Towler's six. Junior libero Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) finished with a season-high 18 digs while freshman Loxley Keala (Honolulu, Haw.) added 10.
The Tigers avoided a hangover from last night's win over Yale by jumping out to a 5-1 lead in set one and extended that advantage to 13-8 after two big blocks from Henning and Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.), forcing a timeout by Seton Hall. Those two blocks were part of an 8-1 run by the Tigers as they pulled away to a 19-9 lead and never looked back, claiming the first set, 25-13. Henning had four kills on just 10 swings and Mizzou tallied five blocks in the set led by two from Towler who came off the bench late in the set.
The Tigers continued to roll in the second set as everything was clicking, opening a 19-9 lead and after Seton Hall rallied to make it close, the Tigers closed the door to win 25-16 after a Seton Hall error. Mizzou had 16 kills on .316 hitting in the second set. Henning led Mizzou with 11 kills on .409 hitting through two sets. In fact, the Tigers had nearly twice as many kills through two sets with 31 while Seton Hall had just 16.
Towler tallied three consecutive blocks to open the third set as Mizzou went on top 4-1 early and took command of the set en-route to a 25-15 win. Mizzou will close action at the Yale Invitational with Colgate later this afternoon. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.
