On Saturday Night, Tiger fans found shelter from the cold and snow that consumed Columbia and the Mid-Missouri area in Hearnes Center to watch Jordan Iliff, Mychael Vernon and the rest of Missouri’s Volleyball team take on the Auburn Tigers.
It was Senior Night for the Missouri Tigers and they were facing an SEC opponent hoping to get their 20th win of the year and their 11th in conference play. Missouri had yet to face Auburn this year but needed to bounce back after two straight SEC losses with one to Mississippi State in Starkville and the other to #12 Kentucky and the Wildcats at home.
Both losses were rough, with 1-3 match scores in both games. In Starkville, Missouri took set 1 and then Mississippi State didn’t look back, winning three straight. Then at home against the Wildcats the Tigers would lose the first two, pick up one, and then lose set four.
Despite all the adversity and struggle they had faced in those past two games, the Tigers came in strong against Auburn and it looked like it would be a battle of endurance. In the first two sets, Missouri and Auburn went back and forth trading points and runs until eventually in the later points of the set, Missouri would slip away and win. In set one the final score was 25-18 and in set two it was 25-19.
Seeing a slight increase in the play from Auburn from set to set I expected to see Auburn take a set and show some resistance. It seems like it has been very common for Missouri to let a team come and take a third set, to then go back to what they needed to do and win the fourth. It has been scary to see because the best teams in the country should not do that, in fact, it’s how Missouri loses many games.
But surprisingly, I was proven wrong. The third set was complete and total domination by Missouri and it was some of the better volleyball I’ve seen the Tigers play when they had a two-set lead.
Missouri would go on to win the third set with a final score of 25-16, leading by as much as 10 at one point with an 18-8 lead. Sweeping Auburn as the last home game felt like a nice celebration before the Tigers begin the volleyball playoffs.
Individually, it was a solid all-around performance for the Tigers, with Vernon and Iliff combining for 28 kills (14 each) and Colleen Finney tagging on seven kills of her own. Additionally, Regan Haith had three blocks to help the Tigers out on defense and Marina Crownover did what Marina Crownover does racking up 38 assists on the day for the Tigers.
Looking forward, on December 5th the Tigers take on the Texas State Bobcats in Dallas at 4 p.m.. With a few days to rest and practice for this matchup, it’s exciting to see this game against the Bobcats and follow along to see just how far the Tigers can go.