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Mizzou celebrates match point.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - After dropping the first set, Mizzou volleyball came roaring back to take down Illinois State (22-5, 25-16, 25-21, 25-13) and earn its first win at home this season on Friday night (Sept. 5) in its second match of the Tiger Invitational. With the victory, coaches Susan and Wayne Kreklow have combined for 300 wins at Mizzou. Sophomore Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) led the way, setting a new-career high with 25 kills to go along with 19 digs. She was one dig shy of recording Mizzou's first 20-20 performance since Lei Wang in 2008.
"I was pleased with the way we bounced back from a tough match this afternoon," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "I thought we did a great job controlling the ball and really played with a lot of confidence in the last three games. We finally seemed to get things going offensively and make no mistake; that is a good Illinois State team. They beat Ohio State and took Oregon to five set last week, so this is a good win for us."
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The Tigers were efficient offensively, especially in the last three sets. Junior All-American Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) posted 14 kills on .583 hitting without an error on the win. Little and the rest of the Tigers were set up by freshman Ali Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) and sophomore Loxley Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii), who combined for 50 assists. Kreklow's 26 assists set a new career-high while Keala secured her second career double-double with 24 assists and 15 digs.
Defensively, sophomore Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.) continued to dominate. After six blocks against the Redbirds, the sophomore has 20 in the last three matches. The team as a whole tallied 17 blocks during the match, which is the most since the Tigers had 19 at Alabama last November. Senior libero Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) added 26 digs, just one shy of her career-high.
The Tigers got off to a slow start in the first set as Illinois State used a 5-0 spurt to grab a 14-8 lead. Back-to-back kills and an ace from Kan cut the Tigers' deficit to 22-20, but the Redbirds responded and closed out the 25-22 set win. Kan had nine kills in the opening set.
Mizzou quickly fought back in the second frame after falling behind again, 6-3. The Tigers polished off a furious rally with a kill by Emily Thater that changed the momentum. The two squads traded points until Mizzou went on a match-defining 12-0 run that featured seven Tiger kills. Another Wilson kill finished off the 25-16 set win.
The third set was a neck and neck battle. With Illinois State trailing 21-22, Mizzou took three consecutive clutch points to claim the set 25-21.
In the final frame, the Tigers used another big run to close out the match. Leading 8-6, Mizzou went on a 7-0 tear to grab a comfortable cushion and cruise to a 25-13 set victory.
The Tigers are now 36-4 all-time at the Tiger Invitational. Mizzou continues play against Oakland at 2 p.m. Saturday. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.