By: Brendan Berger

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri continued its NCAA tournament run to the surprise of many, handling SMU in a 3-1 victory that saw the Tigers outwork the Mustangs and move on to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017.

In one of the tournament’s biggest upsets, Missouri looked like the dark horse contender that fans and pundits believed and silenced SMU despite being the visitors at Moody Coliseum, the venue where notable teams have lost before.

Many believed the opposite before Friday’s matchup. SMU was the AVCA poll’s No. 10 team in the nation and had the resume to back that spot up. Wins against Nebraska, Baylor, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh, highlighted the Mustang’s 24-7 regular season record, and in the first round, they dispatched Wichita State with ease. All signs pointed toward SMU being the favorite, but in true Tiger’s fashion, Missouri played spoiler.

The first set started tentatively, as the tension between the two teams could be felt through the television screen. The Mustangs were the first to break away, as they went on a five-point run highlighted by four Missouri errors. Despite the early trouble, Missouri held on, eventually taking the lead at the media timeout from a Jordan Iliff kill. The tone of the matchup soon changed as play resumed, when Iliff rattled off two service aces to take the lead 18-16. SMU continued to keep it close, but Missouri had found its rhythm, scoring thanks to blocks from Regan Haith, Marina Crownover, and Mychael Vernon. The Tigers came into the matchup as the underdogs, but took the first set 25-22, making their intentions known.

Missouri didn’t rest on its laurels and continued to perform well in the second set. Jumping out to an early lead, the Tigers played their best volleyball of the match, blocking almost every shot attempt, and punching through SMU’s stout front-line defense with kills from every angle. Never surrendering its advantage, Missouri won 25-14 in the most dominant set of the night, putting itself up 2-0 with the match on the line.

The Tigers nearly finished the job in the third set, but with its season on the line, SMU proved why it belonged as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Poised to close out the Mustangs up 13-9 midway through the set, errors appeared for Missouri again, rendering its offense limited, and allowing SMU to tie the set. From then on, the two teams were locked in a stalemate, trading points well into the red zone. Back-to-back service aces from SEC Libero of the Year Maya Sands looked to be the finishing blow that Missouri needed, but SMU’s Natalie Perdue and Maya Tabron continued to keep the game close with well-timed kills and crucial blocks. Tied at 31 apiece, SMU kept their season hopes alive, after back-to-back kills by Tabron gave the Mustangs a set point. Ending what was one of the most thrilling sequences of volleyball in the tournament thus far, a recently subbed Ellie Bolton hit SMU’s lone service ace of the night, capturing the third set 33-31 for the Mustangs.

With a straight-sets victory off of the table for Missouri, its team looked a little behind the curve in the fourth set. Scoring runs by SMU put the Tigers in a deficit, but once again, players like Vernon, Haith, Finney, and others, proved to be the difference makers, keeping Missouri in it, down by only a single score heading into the media timeout. The tide soon turned after the break, as Janet deMarrais and Iliff hit a kill apiece to push the Tigers back in front. Running out of room, SMU continued to fight, but service aces from Iliff and Crownover punctuated the Tiger’s strong second-round showing. The end to a brilliant matchup came from an Iliff kill yet again, giving Missouri victory in the fourth set 25-22, and the match 3-1.

If Missouri hadn’t proved it before the NCAA tournament, its first two matchups showed just how dangerous this squad could be. The Tigers were barely forced to go deep into their roster against SMU, and when they did, they were only stronger. Underrated players like Sierra Dudley and Morgan Isenberg played valuable minutes, contributing on both sides of the ball. Against the Mustangs, six different players contributed to the 62-kill total, and five players aided in scoring 11 service aces. Defensively, the Tigers were stalwart, with 46 digs and 12 blocks across their roster.

This Missouri squad, coached by Dawn Sullivan in only her second year, has entered rarified air. For the first time since 2017, the Tigers are in the Sweet 16, a testament to the shift the program has undergone since Sullivan arrived.

In a stroke of irony, Missouri drew one of its regular season foes Kentucky as its next matchup. Similar to Missouri, the Wildcats impressed in the first two rounds, running through Cleveland State and beating a capable Minnesota squad.

If the regular season is anything to go by, Kentucky will be the Tiger’s fiercest matchup in the NCAA tournament. Through two matches, Missouri only managed to claim victory in a single set. However, in the latter confrontation, the Tigers were able to keep the match much closer, a sign of a team that had begun to figure out its opponents though with too much to overcome. The saying goes that it’s hard to beat a team three times, and Missouri gets the chance to prove that in its trilogy against Kentucky.

Missouri returns against Kentucky on Thursday, Dec. 12 at noon central time, on neutral grounds in Pittsburgh.