COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou volleyball opens Southeastern Conference play with a match vs. Vanderbilt on Sunday at Hearnes Center. The first serve is set for 2 p.m. CDT and will be streamed on SEC Network+.
MATCH AT A GLANCE
Game No. 13 – Sunday, Sept. 27 • 2 p.m. CDT
Mizzou (7-5, 0-0 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (9-1, 0-1 SEC)
LOCATION: Hearnes Center • Columbia, Mo.
SERIES HISTORY: Vanderbilt leads 1-0 • STREAK: Vanderbilt has won one straight
LAST GAME: L 3-2 at Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn. • Nov. 2, 2025)
LIVE STREAM: SEC Network+
OPPONENT WEB: vucommodores.com
SERIES HISTORY
The Tigers face the Commodores for the second time in program history and the first time at home. The first meeting between the two took place in Nashville, Tenn. on November 2, 2025, where Vanderbilt won in a five-set thriller.
LAST TIME OUT
MU closed the non-conference slate with a reschuled match against No. 1 Nebraska on Wednesday evening at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. After the event at Wrigley Field was suspended on Sept. 6 due to weather conditions that made the court unplayable, the match in Lincoln resumed with a score of 0-0, based on a mutual agreement between the two teams.
Mizzou fell to Nebraska 3-0 in its first time competing in Lincoln since Dec. 2, 2023.
Sophomore Paige Felder was tied for the team lead with five kills, while also logging a pair of blocks and a service ace, her 13th of the season, which tied her with freshman Eva Smith for the team lead this year.
Senior Grace O’Reilly and fifth year Kimani Johnson both notched five kills of their own, with O’Reilly contributing a pair of assisted blocks.
S-E-C! S-E-C!
Sunday's match opens up conference play for the Tigers, their first of 15 regular season SEC dates. They will have eight matches at Hearnes Center and seven on the road before the SEC Tournament from Nov. 20-24 in Savannah, Georgia.
MU has finished .500-or-better in each of its three conference slates under Coach Sullivan, posting a combined 28-21 record in that span.
Only three other SEC teams have had at least a .500 record in conference play in each of the last three seasons: Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida.
L.F.G.
This season, the team's motto is LFG, which stands for Love. Family. Grit.
The slogan is a big part of the team culture as they use it as their primary source of pride. It has two meanings: the classic LFG motto, which means to fire yourself up, and the other is the three core values the team focuses on.
EYES ON THE TIGERS
Following the matchup against No. 1 Nebraska, MU currently stands third in conference rankings and 47th in national rankings with 106.5 total blocks.
The team stands third in the SEC and 98th in the national rankings for a team kills value of 565.
Mizzou ranks seventh in conference and 36th in the nation for a hitting percentage of 0.269.
Libero Ainoah Cruz leads the SEC with 212 total digs and stands 21st in the nation. The senior ranks second in conference and 21st in the nation with an average of 4.71 digs per set.
Middle blocker Eva Smith has 48 total blocks this season, good for fourth in the SEC and 88th in the nation. The freshman ranks 12th in the conference for an average of 1.12 blocks per set.
With a .402 individually, junior Lauren Larkin is 36th nationally and fifth in the SEC for hitting percentage.
THE FRESHMAN SHOW
Mizzou's freshmen shined in the Bowling Green/Toledo Invitational, notching multiple career highs and leading the team across several categories.
Lydia Stahley led the Tigers in kills and aces against Bowling Green with 11 and four, respectively.
Middle blocker Eva Smith posted a career high nine kills in the same match, also claiming six total blocks for the third time this season.
Outside hitter Maizy Agnello recorded back-to-back double-digit kills across the Dayton and Toledo matches, with 11 and 10, respectively.
Setter Piper Batie led the Tigers in assists in the matches against Toledo and Bowling Green.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Junior Nina Mandovic has claimed three double-doubles this season, her most recent being at Louisville.
Sophomore Paige Felder recorded her first double-double of the season against Arkansas State with 10 kills and 10 digs.
Sierra Dudley accomplished her first of the season with 18 assists and 14 digs against Toledo.
CRUZIN' ALONG
Ainoah Cruz has tallied 10+ digs in every match this season, achieving a season high of 30 against FGCU.
REACHING MILESTONES
Against Arkansas State, setter Sierra Dudley recorded 36 assists and passed the milestone of 1,500 in her career and is now at 1,608.
Ainoah Cruz also reached a milestone of 1,500 in career digs while facing FGCU, and is now at 1,596.
HITTING GOALS
Kimani Johnson ranks eighth all-time in a single game with a hitting percentage of .813, achieved against JMU on 08/29/25, where she notched 13 kills.
Grace O'Reilly punched a hitting percentage of .722 against FGCU, which is the first time a Tiger has hit over .700 since 2023 (Morgan Isenberg at Auburn on Oct. 23, 2023).
NIELSEN RATINGS
During the 2025 regular season, Mizzou had four games broadcast on National TV, including two on the SEC Network, one on ESPN2 and one on ESPN.
The Tigers were 2-2 in those games, as they were 2-0 on the SEC Network (W, 3-1 vs. LSU/W, 3-0 at Mississippi State) and 0-2 on the ESPN Network channels (0-1 on ESPN2; L, 3-0 at Texas A&M, 0-1 on ESPN; L, 3-1 vs. Stanford).
Mizzou was 6-2 on ESPN+ and was 6-6 on the SEC Network+ stream.
Mizzou was 6-2 on ESPN+ and was 6-6 on the SEC Network+ stream.
This season, the Tigers are set to have three games on SEC Network, one on ESPN2, one on ESPNU and one on FOX.
FIVE SET STANDARDS
Last season, the Tigers went 2-4 in five-set matches, but are 12-8 under head coach Dawn Sullivan.
As a head coach, Sullivan 31-19 all-time in five-set matches.
In 2023, the Tigers went a perfect 5-0 in five-set matches.
WELCOME TO COMO, ASSISTANT COACHES!
In March, head coach Dawn Sullivan announced the hiring of Lauren Cost as an assistant coach.
The former Big 12 Player of the Year and All-American from Kansas State played her collegiate career at Sullivan's alma mater, K-State, from 2000-04.
Cost remains among the top performers in K-State volleyball history, ranking in the top 10 in career kills (1,212), career hitting percentage (.354) and career block assists (380).
In recognition of her outstanding career, she was inducted into the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
In July, Sullivan additionally hired Atanas Petrov as assistant coach.
Petrov served as head coach of the U19 Bulgarian women's national team, leading them to a World Championship and was named the best coach in Bulgaria for 2025. He was previously named the best coach of the National Sport Association of Bulgaria back in 2005.
Before joining the Tigers, Petrov was head coach of the Volley Schönenwerd Men's Volleyball Club (Switzerland). The club-level veteran has coached numerous clubs in Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Over that course, he is a seven-time club champion, five-time national cup winner and two-time super cup winner.
As a player, he was an outside hitter on the junior national team in Bulgaria, and he played for a variety of top Bulgarian clubs.
NEW PASSPORT
During the 2025 season, associate head coach Wendel Camargo passed his citizenship test and became a U.S. Citizen.
Camargo is originally from Brazil and has coached across the globe, as his first coaching job was with the Dominican Republic National Team.
TRANSFERS TO TIGERS
The Black and Gold welcomes two transfers in Cruz (Evansville) and Larkin (Utah State).
ABOUT THE TIGERS
The 2026 campaign is the fourth year for head coach Dawn Sullivan. In 2024, Sullivan led the Tigers to their fifth NCAA Sweet Sixteen in program history and earned AVCA Central Region Coach of the Year.
Last season, Sullivan led Missouri to a record of 17-11, including an 8-7 record in SEC play.
During the year, the Tigers secured their highest-ranked conference victory against No. 16 Tennessee, winning 3-1.
During the 2026 campaign, the Tigers will face eight top-25 teams ranked in the 2026 AVCA Preseason Poll, including five top-10 squads.
10 Tigers return to the team after the 2025 season.
INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE
Ahead of the 2026 season, the Tigers added two international products in Cruz (Arecibo, Puerto Rico) and Kuyan (Istanbul, Turkey). They now have four players on the roster from other countries: Maca Lobaglio (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Mandovic (Subotica, Serbia).