BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Missouri volleyball team (9-5, 1-2 SEC) fell to LSU (6-6, 1-1 SEC) in four sets (25-20, 14-25, 22-25, 19-25) Friday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Mizzou grabbed the opening set, 25-20, recording a team-hitting percentage of .357 before LSU stormed back with the next three sets for the Bayou Bengals first SEC win in 2023.
FIRST SET (Mizzou 25-20, Mizzou leads 1-0)
The first set was a back-and-forth affair featuring 13 ties and four lead changes.
Kills from Morgan Isenberg and Dilara Gedikoglu provided Missouri a slight 10-9 lead.
Gedikoglu then added consecutive rally stoppers before an LSU Tigers miscue brought on the media stoppage with Mizzou up 15-12.
Janet deMarrais ripped a pair of kills to increase the Missouri edge to 18-15.
LSU would then knot the set at 18-18 before Missouri regrew its advantage to 21-19.
The Mizzou Tigers then claimed the first set, scoring the final four points (25-20) including kills from deMarrais and Gedikoglu to go with a solo block by Colleen Finney.
Gedikoglu paced Missouri in the first set with six kills on an .857 hitting clip. Finney (.750) and deMarrais each added a trio of winners during the frame.
SECOND SET (25-14 LSU, Match tied 1-1)
Missouri then jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind a 4-0 run to start the second stanza.
LSU responded with a 7-1 swing to pull ahead 9-6. The home Tigers then utilized a 5-0 run to increase their lead to 16-9.
Three-straight LSU points then put the margin at 19-10.
Finney would connect on a pair of kills down the stretch to make the deficit 10 (24-14) before LSU tied the match at 1-1.
LSU hit .286 in the second set to draw even in the contest.
THIRD SET (25-22 LSU, LSU leads 2-1)
In the third frame, LSU opened with a 7-3 lead.
Mizzou trimmed the early deficit to 10-8 after three-straight points.
Consecutive block assists by Morgan Isenberg after an LSU Tigers service error kept the gap at two (13-11).
With LSU leading 17-13, Mizzou responded with a 4-0 rally to even the set. Finney slammed a kill before consecutive Jordan Iliff aces.
deMarrais added a four-spot of rally stoppers to cut the score to 23-22 in favor of the home Tigers before LSU claimed the set with consecutive points.
deMarrais, a sophomore outside hitter from Colleyville, Texas, had five kills in set #3, connecting at a rate of .300.
FOURTH SET (25-19 LSU, LSU wins 3-1)
The fourth set was tied early at 6-6 before a 3-0 run by the Mizzou Tigers made the score 13-12. Iliff notched a pair of kills before a termination from Gedikoglu during the sequence.
LSU then responded with a 6-0 rally to pull ahead 18-13.
deMarrais tallied a kill before teaming up with Isenberg for a block to make the score 23-18.
Mizzou scored once more on an LSU error before the home team secured the match, 25-19.
MATCH NOTES
- Two Tigers finished in double-figures attacking led by Dilara Gedikoglu and Janet deMarrais who each had 11 kills.
- Dilara Gedikoglu added 12 digs for her fifth double-double in 2023.
- For Janet deMarrais, the double-digit kill outing marked her fourth straight (fifth in 2023).
- Janet deMarrais chipped in a career-best eight digs to go with three blocks.
- Colleen Finney registered nine kills on a .364 hitting percentage with a pair of blocks.
- Jordan Iliff finished Friday with seven kills, a career-best three aces, two blocks and nine digs.
- Freshman setter Sierra Dudley compiled 36 assists, eight digs, one block, one ace and one kill. It marked her eighth 30-plus assist match in 2023.
- Morgan Isenberg tallied four blocks and four kills Friday.
- Maya Sands compiled 14 digs with four assists.
LOOKING AHEAD
- Mizzou will next continue its road trip, taking on Texas A&M (10-3, 2-1 SEC) Sunday afternoon in College Station, Texas. First serve is set for 3 p.m., CT at Reed Arena.
- Sunday's matchup is set to air on SEC Network and will feature the broadcast tandem of Krista Blunk and Shelby Coppedge.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
