University of Missouri
27-6
#2 Minnesota
28-4
#15 @MizzouVB Season Ends with Sweet 16 Loss at #2 Minnesota
12/9/2016 8:51:00 PM | Volleyball
Kan posts fourth career NCAA double-double, second-most in school history
MINNEAPOLIS – No. 15 Mizzou Volleyball saw its season come to a close with a Sweet 16 loss at No. 2 Minnesota, 3-1 (15-25, 25-21, 19-25, 14-25), on Friday evening at the Sports Pavilion, the home court of the second-seeded Gophers. Mizzou was led by 20 kills and a double-double from senior OH Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) who finishes her career with 1,677 kills and 1,445 digs, ranking second and fourth, respectively, in school history. Mizzou finishes the season 27-6 while Minnesota goes to 28-4.
Kan and the Mizzou senior class – MB Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.), RS Julia Towler (Blue Springs, Mo.) and L Alexa Ethridge (Blue Springs, Mo.) - finish their careers as the winningest four-year class in school history with 105 wins. They won a pair of SEC Championships and went to three NCAA Tournaments. The 27 wins on the year are the fifth-most in school history and the senior class has three of the top five win totals in school history.
Junior OH Melanie Crow (Wildwood, Mo.) added 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks and Thater pitched in seven kills on .278 hitting with two blocks and a pair of aces. Ethridge posted 19 digs, just missing her third 20-dig outing of the year, but it was her best four-set total of the season. Junior setter Courtney Eckenrode (The Woodlands, Texas) posted her seventh double-double of the season with 36 assists and 11 digs.
The second-seeded Gophers ran out to an 8-4 lead early in the first set despite Mizzou getting a pair of early blocks. The Tigers made three uncharacteristic attack errors in the stretch, forcing Coach Kreklow to call timeout. Minnesota kept the foot on the gas to go up 15-7, but Mizzou cut the lead to 15-12 using back row attacks from Kan. But as quick as Mizzou got back into it, Minnesota ran off a 5-0 run and that put the set away with the Gophers taking the first frame, 25-15.
Mizzou played better to open the second frame behind the attack of Kan and opened a 13-10 lead after a pair of strong serves from Kira Larson (Fargo, N.D.). Mizzou grew the lead to 14-10 out of the timeout following a kill by Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.), but Minnesota scored the next five points and wound up on top 17-16. Mizzou then got back-to-back kills from Kan and Crow and an ace from Thater to open a 19-17 lead.
The trading of runs continued as Minnesota tied the set at 19-all after a pair of kills, but Mizzou answered right back and that stole momentum, taking set two, 25-21.
Following the break, Minnesota raced out to an 8-3 lead as it connected for kills on its first six swings. Mizzou fought to get back into the set and got as close as 14-10, but the Gophers sided out from there and won the third, 25-19. Minnesota kept it going in the fourth set and ran away with a 25-14 set win to close out the match.
For all the latest on Mizzou Volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on social media on Twitter @MizzouVB and on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Volleyball).
SWEET 16 POST MATCH / 2016 SEASON NOTES
- Mizzou now trails the all-time series with Minnesota, 8-1-1 and 2-0-1 in matches played in Minneapolis.
- Mizzou's all-time record in NCAA Tournament play falls to 12-13, with all 25 games coming under the direction of Wayne and Susan Kreklow.
- The Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament this season for the 13th time since 2000 (all under the Kreklows' tenure)
- Mizzou is now 1-2 all-time in games played in the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
- The Tigers earned their second all-time SEC Championship this season, marking their second conference triumph in the past four years (2013, '16)
- Mizzou Volleyball's two SEC titles stand as Mizzou Athletics' lone team conference championships since joining the SEC in 2012
- In early December, Crow (3rd Team), Kan (Honorable Mention) and Munlyn (Honorable Mention) became the Tigers' 17th, 18th and 19th respective All-Americans since 2000
- Other postseason awards included Coach Kreklow tallying 2016 AVCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year and 2016 SEC Coach of the Year honors, Crow earning 2016 AVCA First Team Southeast All-Region and All-SEC accolades, Kan tallying 2016 AVCA First Team Southeast All-Region and All-SEC honors, Munlyn recording 2016 AVCA Honorable Mention Southeast All-Region and All-SEC accolades and Larson earning 2016 AVCA Honorable Mention Southeast All-Region recognition
- Mizzou's senior class posted 105 career wins over the last four seasons, making the class the winningest four-year class in program history.
- Mizzou's 27 wins on the year are the fifth-most in school history and tie second-best total since the Kreklows took over the program in 2000. Mizzou also had 27 wins last season.
- The past two years (2015-16), Mizzou produced 54 victories, marking the most successful two-year stretch in program history since 2000 (joining 2012-13 Tiger squads).
- Additionally, The 2015-16 and 2012-13 Tigers' 54 wins are the most in a two-year stretch since 1981-82 (also recorded 54 victories)
- Mizzou's final .276 hitting percentage was the 5th-highest single-season hitting mark in program history
- The Tigers picked up eight additional total blocks against Minnesota, moving their 2016 season total to 313.0 blocks. That number ranks 5th-most in a single-season in program history
- Mizzou's 424 total block assists ranked 6th-most in a single-season in program history
- Mizzou's 101 solo blocks ranked 7th-most in a single-season in program history. It marked only the seventh time in program history that a Tigers team posted 100-plus solo blocks in a year
- In the final NCAA statistical rankings, Mizzou's .276 hitting percentage (11th), .818 winning percentage (14th), 313.0 total team blocks (22nd), 2.57 blocks per set (30th) and 1,668 total kills (35th) all placed well
- For the first time since 2005, Mizzou had five individuals (Crow, Kan, Larson, Munlyn and Thater) tally 200-plus kills in a season.
- Mizzou climbed as high as No. 16 in the AVCA Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the NCAA RPI this season.
- The Tigers posted three top 20 RPI victories, six top 50 RPI wins, nine top 75 RPI victories and 13 top 100 RPI wins this season.
- Kan posted 20 kills on Friday night, moving her career total to 1,677, good for the second-most in program history, trailing only All-American Lisa Henning (1,794 from 2010-13).
- Kan's 20 kills were her most since posting 25 in a win over Florida on Nov. 20, a span of five matches.
- Kan also posted her 14th double-double of the season and her fourth in NCAA Tournament action, tying for the second-most ever in a career by a Mizzou player (Shen Danru has the record with five double-doubles in NCAA Tournament matches).
- Earlier this year, Kan finished with 25 kills and 21 digs vs. No. 5 Florida, marking her second career 20-plus kills, 20-plus digs match in program history. It was only Mizzou Volleyball's 21st all-time 20-20 match in program history.
- Crow tallied her 48th ace of the season in the third set, tying her for the sixth-most in a single season at Mizzou and the most by a Mizzou player since Shen Danru had 54 in 2003.
- Earlier this year, Crow finished with 22 kills and 20 digs vs. Miami (Ohio), marking her first career 20-plus kills, 20-plus digs match in program history. It was only Mizzou Volleyball's 20th (by 10 individuals) all-time 20-20 match in program history
- Alyssa Munlyn posted three solo blocks on Friday, moving her season total to 36. The 36 solo blocks rank as the fourth-most ever by a Tiger in a season and most since All-American Whitney Little had a school-record 42 in 2013.
- Munlyn's final .424 hitting percentage was the 2nd-highest individual hitting mark in a single season in program history
- Munlyn finished the match with four blocks, moving her season total to a school record 153, passing her own school record of 149 set a year ago.
- Munlyn's 117 block assists this year ranked 3rd-most in a single season in program history
- Finally, Munlyn's 1.25 blocks per set this season ranked 5th-highest in a single season in program history
- Individually in the final NCAA statistical rankings, Crow's 48 total aces (19th), 0.43 aces per set (23rd), 4.75 points per set (32nd), 532.0 total points (47th) and 3.97 kills per set (52nd) placed favorably among the country's best
- Eckenrode's 1,193 total assists ranked 54th-most in the NCAA
- Munlyn's .424 hitting percentage (6th), 153 total blocks (30th) and 1.25 blocks per set (54th) all ranked among the nation's best
- Ethridge posted 19 digs on Friday, moving her season total to 461, the ninth-most ever in a single season at Mizzou.
- Thater ends her Tiger career with 69 career solo blocks (T-5th-most), 353 career block assists (4th-most), 422 career total blocks (4th-most) and 0.92 career blocks per set (5th-highest)
