LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mizzou volleyball is slated to face No. 5 Louisville Wednesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge Showdown at the Net. The match is set for 6 p.m. CT at the KFC Yum! Center and will be televised on ACC Network.
MATCH AT A GLANCE
Mizzou (3-1) vs. No. 5 Louisville (5-1)
LOCATION: KFC Yum! Center; Louisville, Ky.
SERIES HISTORY: Louisville leads 6-2 • STREAK: Louisville has won 6 straight
LAST GAME: L 3-0 at NKU Invitational (Highland Heights, Ky. • Sept. 17, 2024)
LIVE STREAM: ACCN
OPPONENT WEB: gocards.com
SERIES HISTORY
The Tigers take on the Cardinals for the ninth time in program history and take a road trip to Louisville for the third time.
MU seeks its first win over Louisville since 9/15/84, where it claimed the victory in a four set match.
The Tigers last saw the Cardinals in 2024 for the NKU Invitational in Highland Heights, Ky.
LAST TIME OUT
MU fell to No. 24 Oregon in a 3-1 result on Sept. 1 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.
Mizzou's historic Sunday night matchup against No. Nebraska at Wrigley Field was suspended due to weather conditions that made the court unplayable. The match was officially suspended with the Huskers leading 11-7 in the first set.
LFG
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 Oregon, Mizzou currently stands third in the national rankings and second in conference rankings for a hitting percentage of .347.
The Black and Gold ranks 22nd nationally and third in the SEC for 2.81 blocks per set.
With 1.85 aces per set, the Tigers are 54th in the nation and third in the SEC.
Larkin leads the SEC with a hitting percentage of .564.
With 4.62 digs per set, Libero Ainoah Cruz is No. 31 in the nation and No. 2 in the SEC. The senior has a season total of 60 digs.
Outside hitter Paige Felder is 47th in the nation with .58 aces per set, good for second in the SEC.
Freshman Eva Smith makes her mark on the conference leaderboard at No. 8 for notching 1.31 blocks per set, retaining 17 total blocks this season.
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.
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 RANKINGS
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 12-6 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.
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 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).
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.