Game No. 5• Sunday, Sept 6 • 8 p.m. CT

Mizzou vs. No. 1 Nebraska

Wrigley Field • Chicago, Ill.

SERIES HISTORY: NEB leads 3-74-1 • STREAK: L18

LAST GAME: L 3-0 at NCAA Tournament Second Round (Lincoln, Neb. • Dec. 2, 2023)

LIVE STREAM: FOX

OPPONENT WEB: huskers.com

The Tigers square off against No. 1 Nebraska in the final match of the SEC/Big Ten Challenge in a one-of-a-kind event at Wrigley Field. The contest is slated for 8 p.m. Sunday and will be televised on FOX.

Mizzou is one of four teams competing, with Penn State and Kentucky playing the 6 p.m. match.

SERIES HISTORY

With the road trip, the Tigers compete outside of Hearnes for the first time of the 2026 campaign. The contest marks the first of two neutral matches scheduled for the regular season.

Mizzou seeks a victory against Nebraska for the first time since 10/15/03, where it secured a 3-2 road win. A win would also go down in the history books as the first time defeating a No. 1 ranked opponent.

The event at Wrigley marks the tenth neutral match between the two, with the last time being on 10/21/88 in Versailles, Mo.

The Tigers last saw the Huskers during the second round of the NCAA tournament on Dec. 2, 2023.

Missouri and Nebraska played a total of 45 matches while being members of the Big Eight together, the first match dating back to 10/31/75.

Mizzou trails Nebraska 3-74-1 all-time.

LAST TIME OUT

MU fell to No. 25 Oregon in a 3-1 result on Tuesday in its first match of the SEC/Big Ten Challenge.

Junior Laurin Larkin and company outhit the Ducks .565 to .185 in the first set before dropping the next three sets in succession for their first loss of the season. 

With 14 kills, Larkin has 10+ kills in back-to-back games, both with over a .500 hitting percentage.

Junior Nina Mandovic tallied a season-high 31 assists while also contributing nine digs.

The Missouri offense produced 51 kills and 43 assists. On the defense side, the Black and Gold punched in 10 blocks.

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

After the matchup against Oregon, Mizzou earned the No. 7 spot in the national rankings for the hitting percentage category with a .347, standing second in conference rankings.

The Black and Gold ranks 35th nationally and second in the SEC for 2.81 blocks per set.

Libero Ainoah Cruz is No. 54 nationally and No. 5 in conference for reaching 60 total digs. With 4.62 digs per set, the senior is No. 38 in the national standings and No. 3 in the SEC.

Larkin leads the SEC with a hitting percentage of .564.

Freshman Eva Smith makes her mark on the national leaderboard at No. 85 for notching 17 total blocks, coming in at No. 12 in the conference standings.

Outside hitter Paige Felder leads the team with seven service aces and .58 per set, good for eighth in the SEC

FRESHMEN ON FIRE

Smith recorded the highest hitting percentage (.600) among the team on Tuesday’s showdown, pitching in six kills on 10 total attack attempts.

Outside hitter Ceylin Kuyan added 10 kills to the team total.

HOMETOWN HERO

Freshman Maizy Agnello returns to her stomping grounds for the Sunday night matchup. The outside hitter hails from Crystal Lake, Ill., about 45 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.

Agnello broke the single-season record for kills with 483 for Prairie View High School in 2024. Over the course of her high school career, she was named a two-time All-Fox Valley Conference Team, three-time Northwest Herald All-Area Team and Illinois Volleyball Coaches All-State Team.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

In the season opener, Mandovic earned back-to-back double-doubles, claiming 26 assists and 11 digs against Western Illinois and 28 assists and 11 digs against Towson.

The junior is the first to claim a double-double for the 2026 season.

CRUZIN' ALONG

Cruz has tallied 1,444 career digs, with her career high in a single game reaching 36.

REACHING MILESTONES

Sierra Dudley enters the season with the most assists per game among the roster, having achieved 60 against Ole Miss on 10/15/23.

The senior ranks 10th among the program career records for assists per set with 8.72.

Dudley currently claims 1,455 assists over the course of her collegiate career.

LEADING THE PACK

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.

Senior Grace O'Reilly spearheads the Tigers with most blocks in a game for her career, as she previously recorded nine.

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.

FIVE SET STANDARDS

Last season, the Tigers went 2-4 in five-set matches, but are 12-6 under head coach Dawn Sullivan.

As a head coach, Sullivan 31-17 all-time in five-set matches. 

In 2023, the Tigers went a perfect 5-0 in five-set matches. 

This season, the Tigers are set to have three games on SEC Network, one on ESPN2, one on ESPNU and one on FOX.

OLD FRIEND ALERT

Oregon setter Marina Crownover returned to Hearnes to face off against her former team for Missouri’s fourth match.

During her two seasons as a Tiger, Crownover was named to All-SEC Second Team and AVCA All-Central Region Team, helping lead Missouri to the 2024 NCAA regional semifinals.

The setter posted more than 2,100 assists (10.12 assists per set) and 24 double-doubles with Mizzou.

Crownover ended the match with a double-double, leading the Ducks with 48 assists and 11 digs.

THE SULLIVAN FAMILY ROOTS

Idaho's senior outside hitter, Sarah Sullivan, had a unique test of facing her mother in Mizzou's final match of the Mizzou Invite in the Tiger's third match of the season.

The Tigers posted a 3-0 sweep against the Vandals.

Sarah joins her mother in the collegiate landscape as her mother Dawn played for Kansas State from 1996-99.

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 assitant 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).

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

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