Emily Wilson was named Tournament MVP.
MOSCOW, Idaho -- Mizzou volleyball won its fourth consecutive match by defeating Eastern Washington, 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 20-25, 26-24), on Saturday morning (Sept. 13) at Memorial Gymnasium. The win gives Mizzou the Idaho Nike Invitational Title and senior Emily Wilson (Omaha, Neb.) was named Tournament MVP. Sophomore Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) was also named to the All-Tournament team. Mizzou is now 8-4 and riding a season-long four-match winning streak.
"I am proud of how this group came together this weekend," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "We had a tough go of things last week at home and we had a long week of travel and matches and the kids did a great job of coming together and playing as a team. I am happy for Emily - she played really well all weekend. I hope we can build on this when we head to Miami and hopefully we have a good week of practice to build off of what we did here in Idaho."
Wilson was spectacular again Saturday, posting a match-high 15 kills on .333 hitting while tallying three blocks - two of which came after Mizzou fell behind 24-22 in set four as she helped the Tigers rally to a 26-24 set win. She tallied a block to seal the match as well. Wilson on the weekend averaged 4.50 kills per set on .378 hitting with nine blocks. She had 72 kills over the four matches.
Senior Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) tallied 22 kills on .526 hitting with a season-high six blocks and Kan added 14 kills and 13 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. Loxley Keala (Honolulu, Hawaii) spread 26 assists in the win and Ali Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) spread 17 and tallied a pair of aces. The setting duo guided Mizzou to .254 hitting in the win.
Mizzou fell behind, 4-0, after opening very sluggishly in the morning match. That forced a timeout from head coach Wayne Kreklow and Mizzou regrouped and traded points with the Eagles for much of the first set but struggled to close that four-point gap. EWU opened a five-point lead at 16-11 and Kreklow used another timeout and his team responded with a 5-0 run to tie the set at 16-all. Wilson tallied a kill to give Mizzou its first lead at 21-20 and then posted a kill and a block to help open a 23-21 lead late in the frame. Little tallied a pair of kills from there to put the set away. She had five in the first but Wilson led the way with seven kills on nine errorless attacks. Mizzou had 18 kills on .405 hitting in the first.
In set two, Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.) and Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.) tallied huge block to open a 9-5 lead and Kan buried an overpass on the next point as Mizzou doubled up EWU early, 10-5. Mizzou kept the foot on the gas and hit .321 en-route to a 25-17 set win. Little led the way with four kills on four attempts in the set as Mizzou took a 2-0 lead into the break.
In the third set, Eastern Washington put together a 7-1 run midway through the set to go on top 12-9 and eventually opened a 16-11 lead. The Tigers got as close as 21-18 but EWU closed it out for a 25-20 set win. Mizzou hit just .095 with eight kills and six errors in the third.
Mizzou continued its sloppy play early in the fourth set and fell behind 18-7. But the Tigers rallied from that nine-point deficit to gain its first lead at 25-24. EWU led 24-22 but the Tigers fended off a pair of set points and eventually claimed the set on a block by Wilson, scoring the last four points of the match behind the serving arm of Kreklow.
The Tigers will round out non-conference play next weekend in Coral Gables as they play Miami and UNC Greensboro in the final tournament of the season. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.