oming off of a disappointing weekend road trip, the Missouri Tigers had one of their tallest tasks of the year against the Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats came into the game already with a share of the SEC championship and a chance to take it outright. Mizzou was simply looking to bounce back after a struggling win at Ole Miss and a bad 3-1 loss to Mississippi State, its worst loss of the year according to RPI rankings as Missouri sits at 23 while the Bulldogs sit at 138. Early on in the game, it looked like it would be much of the same for the Tigers. 

Set one started solidly for the Tigers. The two teams traded punches for a while and up until it was tied 15-15, neither team was able to gain momentum and a lead was never more than two points for either. Kentucky used the media timeout to their advantage and ripped off an 8-1 scoring run to go up 23-16. Mizzou was able to get back on track and score three of the next four, but it was way too little too late and Kentucky closed the first stanza out 25-19. Mizzou had no answer for the Kentucky offense as the Cats hit at a .483 hitting percentage and Mizzou only was able to get to .194. The one major bright spot for the Tigers was Regan Haith as at one point she led the court in kills and had a 1.000 hitting percentage. 

Set two saw Mizzou look absolutely silly. The first 12 points were back and forth and ended up tying 6-6 before Kentucky went on a 6-1 run and all but sealed the Tiger’s fate in the. Missouri had absolutely no answer. Every single kill was run through by Emma Grome and yet the Tigers looked completely lost. Errors plagued them as they ended the second set with 12 on the game and a .103 hitting percentage in the second set. Kentucky on the other hand had their best performance of the evening with a menacing .462 hitting percentage. The Cats ended on a 6-2 run and won 25-14 looking to pull out the brooms. 

It is unclear what was said to the Tigers in the break between sets two and three, but whatever it was, they looked like a new team. The first five points started off much of the same. Back and forth with neither team gaining momentum as the set was deadlocked at five points. After that though, Mizzou made their presence known with an 8-2 scoring run and never looked back in the set. Kentucky did not lie down and brought it back within a point four times, but they never were able to get over the hump and lost off of a Jordan Iliff kill 25-23 to go down 2-1 They put on by far their best show of the night with 17 kills, 3 errors, and a .412 hitting percentage against the Wildcats. Kentucky by no means had a poor showing with 15 kills, a .314 hitting clip and only 4 errors, but they just simply could not keep up with the Tigers offense. 

Starting set four, Mizzou looked stronger than ever before. It scored the first three points and then after going up 8-4, did not let Kentucky within less than four for a long time. The two traded points, but Kentucky could not get momentum and Mizzou went up 16-10. Sadly for Mizzou though, this is Kentucky; the reigning eight straight conference champions and the holder of the only national championship as an SEC team. It ripped off an 8-2 run and knotted things up 18-18. Mizzou responded with two more points of their own and kept the Wildcats at bay. Mizzou was in the driver’s seat, but it fell asleep at the wheel and woke up staring down the barrel of a Kentucky offense that shows no mercy. Mizzou would never score again and Kentucky would win seven straight points to take a 3-1 victory over Mizzou to win sole possession of the SEC title and officially punch their ticket to the national championship tournament. 

Kentucky finished with an incredible .406 hitting percentage while holding the Tigers to just .220. Emma Grome definitely had the strongest performance with 54 assists, 8 digs, 3 blocks and a kill as a bow on top. Mizzou only saw two players break .300 on hitting percentage while Kentucky had five. Kentucky takes their eighth straight SEC title and their second straight back-to-back and finishes the season 20-7 and 14-2 in conference play. Mizzou falls to 19-8 and 10-5 in conference play. They will take on Auburn on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Mizzou is 4-3 following a loss but has not lost three straight this year and has not lost to an unranked opponent at home.