In their third ever series meeting, the Tigers faced off against Central Arkansas this Saturday in the 2023 Mizzou Classic tournament. The teams last played each other in 2011 in Columbia, with Missouri winning the match.
Following its 3-1 victory over Illinois State, Missouri looked to pick up its second win of the season under new head coach Dawn Sullivan.
Despite the first two sets being back and forth with sixteen ties and five lead changes, Central Arkansas took both sets, with sophomore setter Emmie Tidwell in particular having seven kills in the first set alone.
Sets one and two for the Tigers included previous standout players against Illinois State, such as junior right side hitter Jordan Iliff struggling. In the first two sets Iliff had eight errors to her name and two kills by the end of set two.
Despite the early setback, the Tigers were able to recover in the match, starting off the third set with a quick 3-0 lead, and building from there, with Iliff improving in kills, and offensive hitter Dilara Gedikoglu picking up four of her sixteen kills in the third set. A 7-0 runand a 4-0 run were enough for the Tigers to take it 25-17, and they didn’t stop there.
Sets four and five saw momentum swing in the Tigers’ favor, starting with the hitting percentage of .400 in the fourth set, along with a 7-0 rally to harness a 17-11 lead and finishing the set off 25-17.
The hit percentage didn’t drop down for the Tigers, improving to .412 in the last set, along with Iliff improving massively going five for five herself to help lead the Tigers to a 15-11 set win, and match victory.
Junior Morgan Isenberg, and freshman setter Sierra Dudley provided big contributions for the Tigers to complete their comeback and win sets four and five. Isenberg and Dudley achieved personal bests in the match as a whole.
Isenberg’s presence at the net led her to a career high of eight blocks, and Dudley totaled 49 assists and 12 digs, another double double for her this season.
The Tigers now sit at 2-0 on the season, and they look to continue their winning ways tomorrow at 12 p.m. as they take on an undefeated Colgate squad, who lost just one set in the Mizzou Classic tournament so far.