Emily Wilson became the 14th player in program history to break 1,000 career kills.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Mizzou volleyball lost at No. 8 Florida, 3-0 (17-25, 19-25, 13-25), on Friday night (Oct. 24) at the O'Connell Center. Senior Emily Wilson (Omaha, Neb.) tallied her 1,000th career kill in the loss, becoming the 14th player in program history to join the 1,000-kill club. She is the 10th Mizzou player under Wayne and Susan Kreklow to eclipse 1,000 career kills. Wilson finished the night with seven kills on .312 hitting in the loss.
"Give a lot of credit to Florida - they played well tonight," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "You know it is always going to be tough playing a top-10 team on the road, but I thought we did some things well tonight. We just need to take the positives from tonight into our match Sunday at South Carolina."
Sophomore All-American Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) just missed her 15th double-double with nine kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Loxley Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii) tallied her 11th doubled-double with 13 assists and 11 digs - her 11 double-doubles are second in the SEC, trailing only Kan. One match removed from a career-high 22 kills, Regan Peltier (Nixa, Mo.) tallied seven in the loss as did freshman Kasey Reuter (Sioux City, Iowa). Senior libero Sarah Meister San Diego, Calif.) pulled in a team-high 15 digs and senior Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) finished with a pair of blocks.
The Tigers fell behind, 5-0, early in set one before cutting into the lead. The Tigers hung with the Gators until a 6-2 run behind some shaky Tiger passing opened a 15-7 lead for the Gators. The attacking of Reuter kept Mizzou close as the teams traded points over the last 20 rallies, but Florida's early lead was too much to overcome as Mizzou dropped the frame, 25-17. Reuter led Mizzou with four kills on .471 hitting in the set. As a team, Mizzou hit .276 but struggled to slow Florida despite 20 digs as the Gators hit .349 with 19 kills.
After playing the last 20 points of the first set even, the two teams did the same in set two as Mizzou used a 5-1 run to tie the frame at 10-10, prompting a timeout from UF head coach Mary Wise. Long rallies ensued and Florida won a long rally on a block to re-open a 14-12 lead, but a kill from Peltier, her fifth, pulled the Tigers back within one. But Florida opened a 17-14 lead after a block, forcing a Wayne Kreklow timeout and Mizzou rallied. Wilson tallied her 1,000th career kill to pull Mizzou within one at 19-18, but Florida scored six of the next seven points to win the set, 25-19.
Florida jumped out to a 5-1 lead in set three and kept the foot on the gas until a timeout from Kreklow calmed things down. But just like in set one, that initial lead was too much for the Tigers to overcome as Florida won the third, 25-13, to complete the sweep.
Mizzou will be back in action Sunday at South Carolina in a match that begins at 12:30 p.m. (CT). For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.