University of Missouri
16-7,7-4SEC
Tennessee
16-4,7-3SEC
Volleyball Upsets No. 16 Tennessee in Knoxville
10/31/2025 8:41:00 PM | Volleyball
The Tigers extended their winning streak to seven, as they took down the No. 16 ranked Lady Vols on their home court.
Mizzou volleyball (16-7, 7-4 SEC) earned its seventh-straight match victory (sixth-straight SEC) as it upset No. 16 Tennessee (16-4, 7-3 SEC) on the Lady Vols home court, 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17) on Friday, Oct. 31 in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Tigers held Tennessee to a .173 hitting percentage as Mizzou picked up its first ranked win of the season and its first win in Knoxville since 2019.
KEY PLAYERS
- Senior Caylen Alexander led the team with 19 kills, as freshman Maca Lobaglio set a new career high with 11 kills on a .556 hitting percentage. Alexander also posted her fifth double-double of the season as she added 12 digs to her stat line.
- Redshirt junior Marina Crownover recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 39 assists and 10 digs, as well as three kills.
- Senior Regan Haith tallied six total blocks, as Lobaglio was second on the team with three.
- Freshman Zoey Matias-Lopez posted a team high 14 digs.
- Redshirt senior Tyrah Ariail tallied nine kills, three service aces, four digs and two blocks on the day. Senior Janet deMarrais had 10 kills and was one dig short of a double-double and also had two blocks.
FIRST SET (25-21, Mizzou leads 1-0)
In the opening frame, the Tigers were neck-and-neck with the Lady Vols, as they headed into the media timeout with a slight 15-14 advantage. Mizzou entered the break with a hitting percentage over .300, while the Lady Vols had a sub-.100 percentage with eight attack errors.
That lead would stand towards the latter part of the set, as a kill from Alexander forced a timeout by Tennessee with MU up 22-21.
Lobaglio would take over the remainder of the set, as she recorded the last two kills of the set – four kills overall – as Mizzou went on a 4-0 scoring run to take it 25-21.
SECOND SET (23-25, Match tied 1-1)
Right out of the gate, the second set was different as the Lady Vols forced a timeout after a 5-0 run – Tennessee led 8-4. While the opening had a different outcome, the Tigers were able to fight back with a 3-0 run of their own, making it 7-9 after a block from Crownover and Haith.
MU would continue to fight back from that initial deficit, outscoring Tennessee 7-2 before eventually going up 18-16, prompting a Tennessee timeout. Out of the timeout, the Tigers would score one, but it was the Lady Vols that came out hot with a 5-0 scoring streak, making it 20-19.
An overturned call would make it 21-20 in favor of MU, and the Tigers extended that lead to get it to 22-20 before a Tennessee timeout. Another point was added to MU's score as a sanction went against the Lady Vols. However, Tennessee utilized home momentum as it went on a 5-0 scoring run to win 25-23.
THIRD SET (25-23, Mizzou leads 2-1)
In the third, the Tigers were relentless to start forcing a Lady Vols timeout early after a 7-0 run gave them a 9-4 advantage. In that run, MU was given points from three Alexander kills, an ace from Ariail and three attack errors from Tennessee.
The Lady Vols emerged with a run of their own, 6-3, making it a one-point deficit with the Tigers still in control at 16-15. Tennessee would tie it, but immediately MU would earn two more points, as deMarrais posted a kill, making it 20-18.
Late in the set, the two sides were tied at 23 apiece; however, this time it was the Tigers that took command as Crownover recorded back-to-back kills to go up in the match 2-1.
FOURTH SET (25-17, Mizzou wins 3-1)
Things heated up for the Tigers in the fourth, as they went behind 9-7, but followed that with a 9-1 scoring run to make it a six-point lead, 16-10. During that span, almost everyone got involved as there were kills from four different players on the run: Lobaglio, Crownover, Ariail, and deMarrais.
Heading into the Tennessee timeout, the Tigers hit .429 and had control over the set. That fact would continue as Mizzou built its lead up to nine points and eventually closed out the set 25-17.
In the final set, the Tigers would end with a .444 hitting percentage and finished the match at a .283 overall percentage.
GAME NOTES
- Mizzou leads the all-time series against Tennessee 13-10 and has a two-match winning streak against the Lady Vols. This is the Tigers' first win in Knoxville since Nov. 24, 2019.
- Dawn Sullivan is now 56-29 as the Tigers head coach, 165-67 overall and is 2-2 against Tennessee as MU's head coach.
- MU is now 15-2 when it wins the first set this season, and 7-4 in four set matches.
- The Tigers are now 1-4 in ranked matchups this season.
UP NEXT
- The Tigers wrap up the trip to Tennessee with the first-ever matchup between Mizzou and Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2 in Nashville.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
- For all the latest information on Mizzou Volleyball, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Tigers on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
