@MizzouVB’s Season Concludes, Falls 3-0 to No. 1 Penn State

Friday, December 8

University Park, Pa.

1 p.m.

University of Missouri

22-12

(#1) Penn State

32-1

Mizzou

Penn State

@MizzouVB’s Season Concludes, Falls 3-0 to No. 1 Penn State

12/8/2017 4:18:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Tigers’ 14th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance ends in fourth all-time Sweet 16

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Mizzou Volleyball (22-12) saw its 2017 campaign conclude Friday (Dec. 8) afternoon inside Rec Hall, following a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-19) straight-set loss to No. 1 Penn State.

For the second consecutive year, the Tigers' season finale occurred in the NCAA Regional round. In 2016, Mizzou fell 3-1 to No. 2 national seed Minnesota, while dropping today's match against the No. 1 national seed Nittany Lions.

#ShowMe Top Performers

Melanie Crow: 12 kills, 1 assist, 1 dig
Kira Larson: 8 kills, 3 assists, 1 ace, 2 digs, 1 total block
Courtney Eckenrode: 20 assists, 2 kills, 1 ace, 4 digs
Kayla Caffey: 7 kills on .312 hitting, 1 ace, 2 digs, 1 total block

Hear From Head Coach Wayne Kreklow

On today's match / season reflection…

"Obviously, we're disappointed with the outcome. We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough task in squaring off against the nation's No. 1 seed. They're No. 1 for a reason. They're really good. They have a lot of good players out there that do a lot of good things. I think it's a little disappointing, because we all felt that we could've played a little better today. We didn't play our best, but they had a lot to do with that. They served very impressively and kept us out of system a lot. They made it tough to sustain any consistent offensive rhythm."

"I was really proud though of the way we battled. I'm proud of this season these ladies had. Prior to the match, I looked at the date and saw it was Dec. 8. Four months ago on Aug. 8, we started official practice. It's a long brutal season. It's a tough thing to do well and I'm very proud of them for doing it. We made it into elite company, as there was only 16 teams left playing this weekend and we were one of them. They earned it."

#Mizzou Takeaways

The host Nittany Lions dominated on offense over their first set victory, tallying 14 kills on .565 hitting. Four Penn State attackers posted multiple kills over its opening set.
Despite dropping the first set, Sydney Deeken and Caffey tied for the team lead with four kills apiece.
Penn State led much of the second set, but a late mini scoring run by the Tigers pushed the deficit to only 19-16. The Nittany Lions answered in a big way however, outscoring Mizzou 6-2 over the final stretch of the set.
The Nittany Lions' offense was lights out yet again in the second set, recording 15 kills on .444 hitting. Through two sets played, Penn State had 29 kills on an incredible .500 hitting mark.
Crow led the charge for Mizzou in its second set attack, standing with eight kills on .312 hitting over two sets played.
Crow posted a pair of quick kills in the third set, securing her ninth double-digit kill match this season.
The Tigers' best performance occurred in set three, highlighted by an early 11-7 advantage over the Nittany Lions. The host Penn State answered in a big way after its early deficit and easily clinched the match with a 25-19 set victory.
The Nittany Lions exceeded .300 hitting over all three sets and finished with 44 kills on .432 hitting overall.

2017 Season Highlights

Mizzou's 377.5 total blocks and 547 block assists marked new all-time single-season records in program history.
The Tigers' 2.88 blocks per set (second), 104 solo blocks (seventh), 2,243.5 points (T-9th) and 1,602 assists (10th) also cracked all-time single-season Top-10 record books.
Individually, Alyssa Munlyn's 189 total blocks, 159 block assists and 1.44 blocks per set each reset all-time records in Tiger history.
Riley Sents tallied 461 digs in her first season as Mizzou's libero, placing T-9th all-time in Tiger individual single-season digs.
Crow finished her collegiate career with 1,321 kills, ranking ninth all-time on the Mizzou individual career kill list. Additionally, her 1,569.5 career points also ranks ninth-highest in Mizzou history.
Eckenrode's 3,836 career assists places sixth all-time in Tiger history, while Ali Kreklow's 1,876 career assists ranks eighth.
The 2017 Tigers' postseason run marked their 14th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, all coming under the Kreklow's tenure (2000-present).
Mizzou's visit to the NCAA Sweet 16 was its fourth all-time NCAA Regional appearance (2005, '10, '16-17).
Following four All-SEC recognitions this year, the Kreklow's have guided 46 all-time All-Conference honorees under their watch.
This week's All-Region accolades for Larson and Munlyn improved the Kreklow's all-time AVCA All-Region award winners to 30.
For the fourth consecutive year and 11th time overall since 2000, Mizzou finished with 20-plus wins for the season.

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