By Olivia Evans
This past week several Tiger squads saw their seasons come to an end, while other squads are still battling it out in the depths of SEC play. Here’s what’s happening this week in Mizzou Athletics.
Men’s Basketball:
This past Friday, the basketball team opened up their season with a home exhibition game against Central Missouri. The Tigers won 80-56. Freshman Kobe Brown started for the Tigers alongside Jeremiah Tilmon Jr., Dru Smith, Xavier Pinson and Javon Pickett. Brown led the Tigers in scoring with 12 points. Mark Smith was back on the court for Tigers after ending last season on injured reserves; he contributed 10 points and seven rebounds for the Tigers. This summer and preseason, Tilmon Jr. focused on fouling less so he could be on the court for longer to help the Tigers. Despite all this preparation, he still racked up four personal fouls.
The Tigers play on Wednesday at the Mizzou Arena where they will face Incarnate Word. Then on Friday they take on Northen Kentucky, also at home.
Women’s Basketball:
In the second exhibition match of the season so far, the Tigers defeated Fontbonne 121-40. Elle Brown was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 24 points. Hannah Schuschts recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Tigers were playing together and had lots of communication.
The Tigers open regular season play on Tuesday against Western Illinois at home. They are scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country:
Both the Men’s and Women’s cross country teams traveled to Lexington, KY this past week to run in the SEC Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park. The men competed in an 8K race and the women in a 6K. The men finished seventh overall with 162 points. Thomas George took eighth individually. The women finished third overall with 159 points, this was their highest finish at SECs since 2016. The women were led by Sarah Chapman, who finished 18th overall. Mizzou Women placed five runners among the top 50 finishers, one of which was true freshman Ginger Murnieks. Murnieks was the fourth fastest freshman in the race and earned All-Freshman Honors. Five women ran their personal best times of the season, and every runner for the men’s squad who crossed the finish line ran a personal best as well.
Mizzou will continue their hunt for postseason hardware on November 15 when they travel to Oklahoma for NCAA Regionals.
Football:
Mizzou is coming off their second bye-week of the season this week. On this upcoming Saturday, the Tigers will face off against the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, GA. Georgia just defeated the Florida Gators this past weekend and moved up in the Week 11 AP poll to number six. Mizzou will be looking to bounce back after two road losses to conference teams. To even be bowl eligible (regardless of the potential postseason ban), the Tigers need to win at least one more game this season. The Tigers will only play SEC opponents for the remaining four games of the season.
Men’s and Women’s Golf:
The men’s team returned from Hawaii this weekend where they tied for ninth in the Hoakalei CC Collegiate Invitational. Once again, freshman Ross Steelman led the way for the Tigers, snatching his third top 20 finish of the season. Rory Franssen was close behind with a finish of 25th overall. This tournament was the concluding match of their fall season. The Tigers will not tee off again until mid-February. 
This weekend the Women traveled to Cabo, Mexico to take part in the Battle at the Beach tournament. The women tied for 12th with Iowa. Sophia Yoemans finished 31st overall; this was the highest placing for any Tiger. Similar to the men, the women will not see action again until late February.
Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving:
This weekend the Tigers competed in Springfield against Missouri State. The Tigers swept all 26 events of the day. The men posted a score of 166.5 and the women scored 160 points to defeat the Bears. Mizzou also set eight pool records this weekend.
This weekend the Tigers will face Kentucky and North Carolina State in Lexington, KY.
Wrestling:
The Tigers opened their season this past weekend with matches at Virginia Tech and the Southeast Open. The number seven Tigers lost to number 18 Virginia Tech 29-10. Despite this team loss, three Tigers secured individual titles. Brock Mauller, Connor Flynn and Wyatt Koelling won their weight classes. Mizzou was hurt for points because they had to forfeit the 133 lbs. weight class.
At the Southeast Open, three Tigers also won their weight classes. Brock Mauller at 149lbs, Jarret Jacques at 157lbs and Connor Flynn at 174lbs all went 4-0.
The Tigers have some time off before hitting the mats again in competition.
Soccer:
The Tigers closed their season at home on Halloween with a 4-2 loss to Mississippi State. The Mizzou secondary was unable to stop Mississippi State from penetrating to the goal, in the first half alone the Bulldogs scored three goals. Cisneros was the only Tiger to score; she ended her season with 10 total goals. The Tigers will not resume action until the 2020 season.
Tennis:
The Mizzou Tennis squad returned from Miami, FL this weekend where they competed in the FIU Invitational. The Tigers saw action all three days of the tournament competing in both singles and doubles play. Over the course of the three days, the Tigers finished 7-2 in doubles.
This week the Tigers are gearing up to head to Newport Beach, CA to compete in the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, Wednesday through Sunday. This will be the final competition of the fall season.
Volleyball:
This past Wednesday the Tigers took on the top-ranked team in the SEC and the 13th overall team in the country at the Hearnes Center. The Tigers fell 3-2 in a tough five-set match to the Florida Gators. Mizzou outkilled the Gators 68-63, however, the Tigers also racked up more errors than the Gators did. Mizzou bested the Gators in nearly stat but that wasn’t enough to secure the victory. Once again, Kylie Deberg, Tyanna Omazic, Leketor Member-Meneh and Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana all posted double-digit kills for the Tigers. Deberg led with 27 kills, two blocks and one ace.
“This one stings for sure, but there’s a lot of positives we can still take out of it. Florida is the No. 13 team in the country for a reason and you can’t give them an opportunity to capitalize on little mistakes that we may commit. I think that was the difference in set five, as we built an 8-4 advantage, but then made some costly errors to allow them right back in it. We got to regroup quickly, as we have another tough opponent on tap this Sunday at Texas A&M,” said head coach Joshua Taylor.
This week the Tigers face Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Friday then turn right around to face Georgia in Athens on Sunday.
Edited by Emma Moloney | [email protected]