By Olivia Evans
Throughout the athletic department, several teams saw action this week while others grinded away in practice in preparation for their next game in the coming week. Here’s what’s happening this week in Mizzou Athletics.
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country:
This week, the men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel with a small squad to Wisconsin to compete in the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday. Originally the teams had planned on doing a split meet at Bradley Pink Classic to give more runners a chance to compete, but have decided to only go to Wisconsin. The runners who are not competing at Wisconsin will now see their season come to a close. Upon return, the teams will have two weeks to prepare for the SEC meet.
Football:
On Saturday, the Tigers faced off against Ole Miss for the Homecoming game. Mizzou bested the Rebels 38-27. This was the first game without senior linebacker Cale Garrett. Last week against Troy, Garrett tore his pectoral muscle and is expected to be out the rest of the season. Despite this huge loss for the Tigers on defense, several people stepped up to help contain Ole Miss. The defense allowed 440 total yards for the Rebels. While Mizzou’s defense proved to be a show stopper for the Rebels, the Tigers offense also went to work scoring 23 points in the third quarter alone. Mizzou bosted 562 yards total, 329 of those yards came off of Kelly Bryant’s 23 completions. Tucker McCann went four for four in field goals for the Tigers but struggled with the extra points, making only two of the four attempts. Despite these misses, this game proved to be one of McCann’s best and marked a new season-high in field goals made.
This game ends Mizzou’s home play until Nov. 16. This week the Tigers travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. This game is set to kick off at 3 p.m. and will be aired on SECN.
Following Mizzou’s victory, combined with both Georgia and Florida’s losses this week, the Tigers are currently positioned at no. 1 in the SEC East and broke through to no. 22 on the AP Top 25 Poll.
Men’s and Women’s Golf:
Mizzou men just competed in their fourth tournament of the season in which they finished 11th out of 15 teams. Rory Franssen finished tied for 10th in the tournament and matched his lowest score for a single round this season as well. One other Tiger finished in the top 30 leaderboards; Ross Steelman tied for 24th and finished at four-under for the tournament.
Mizzou men will finish up their fall season in two weeks when they travel to Hawaii to play in the Hoakalei Country Club Collegiate Invitational.
Heading into the weekend the Lady Tigers will be on their way to San Marcos, TX for the Jim West Challenge.
Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving:
On Oct. 18 the Tigers will host a dual meet against in-conference rival, the Florida Gators. The Tigers have not competed since the Show-Me Showdown on Oct. 4, which they won with a combined 721 points. Last week Leonardo Garcia Varela was named the SEC Men’s Diver of the Week as a true freshman. Mizzou looks to continue posting big marks early in their season.
“We have never had so many qualifying or almost qualifying marks [for NCAA’s] posted this early in the season,” swimmer Sarah Thompson said.
Soccer:
On Sunday, Mizzou captured their first SEC victory of the season by beating the Tennessee Volunteers 2-0 at home in their annual pink out game. The Tiger offense was working very well together and getting lots of shots up. The Tigers posted eight shots on the goal in comparison with Tennessee’s just one. The first goal came off an assist from Sarah Lubbert to Julissa Cisneros. Later in the game, Cisneros assisted Lubbert with a goal of her own. This was Mizzou’s first victory over the Volunteers since the 2015 season.
The Tigers will hit the road this week and travel to Lexington, KY to face off with another SEC opponent on Friday. The game will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on SECN+ for fans to watch.
Softball:
On Sunday, the Tigers faced off against North Central Missouri College as well as Westminster College at home. The scores of those games have yet to be posted on the Mizzou Athletics website. The Tigers will stay at home this weekend when they take on Crowder College on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Tennis:
Last week Ellie Wright and Lisa Fukutoku competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships in Oklahoman. Both players lost their opening round of singles play, and the duo also lost their opening doubles match putting them at 2-2 on the season.
The Tigers travel to Norman, OK to compete in the six-day ITA Central Regional tournament.
Volleyball:
Mizzou volleyball fell 3-1 to the Ole Miss Rebels this week at home. The Tigers won their opening set, but the offense could not find a way to pull through for the other sets. This leaves the Tigers at number 22 in polls, with a 10-4 record and 2-2 in the SEC. Despite the fact that the Tigers racked up more kills, assist and digs than Ole Miss, the defensive blocking by the Rebels prevented scores.
Kylie Deberg had a strong showing. She was one of three Mizzou players to finish with double-digit kills. Deberg tallied 25 kills, which matched her career-high. This was also her third double-double of the season. Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana and Kayla Caffey finished with 12 and 10 kills respectively.
“We have to continue to get better in maintaining focus and energy each and every set,” interim head coach Joshua Taylor said.
The Tigers won’t see action again until Oct. 18 when they road trip to Auburn. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on SECN+.
Edited by Emma Moloney | [email protected]
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This week in Mizzou Athletics
October 14, 2019
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