Entering Friday, Mizzou volleyball only lost one season-opener since 2008 (Saint Louis in 2021). That factoid remained true after a 3-1 victory over Illinois State.
The first set was dead even throughout, as neither team held a lead larger than one until ISU went up 17-15. After a kill by ISU outside hitter Bella Zeman made it 18-15 Redbirds, the Tigers roared back with three consecutive points to tie the game.
After a couple of Jordan Iliff kills and service errors by ISU, Missouri went up 23-20, only for the Redbirds to respond with three straight points of their own. The Tigers eventually prevailed, as ISU committed a pair of errors to give the first set to the home team, 25-23.
Illinois State started the second set red-hot, going up 5-1 in the blink of an eye. Missouri bounced right back, however, tying the game at five just as quickly.
After a kill by ISU outside hitter Aida Shadewald that almost actually killed Maya Sands put ISU up 13-12, the Redbirds never relinquished the lead despite elite persistence from the Tigers. A Shadewald service ace clinched the second set for ISU, 27-25.
The third set saw Missouri look the best they had all game. After ISU went up 3-0, Missouri scored seven straight points with Sierra Dudley and Jordan Iliff doing most of the heavy lifting. The Tigers never trailed en route to a 25-19 set victory, with 19 of their points coming from kills alone.
The fourth set followed a similar theme to the previous one. After ISU took a 4-2 lead, Missouri responded with four consecutive points. The Redbirds clawed their way to an 11-8 advantage, only to surrender nine of the next 10 points to the Tigers. ISU never got back within two of Missouri, as Morgan Isenberg clinched the season-opening victory with a kill that ignited the Hearnes Center crowd.
Iliff led the Tigers with 19 kills followed by Colleen Finney with 12 and Dilara Gedikoglu 10. Sierra Dudley registered a whopping 45 assists in her first collegiate game. Dudley and Maya Sands dug like paleontologists, as the two combined for 32 digs on the night. Finney shined running the slide, which is a kill where the player does a Derek Jeter-esque jump smack.
Both teams play Central Arkansas Saturday, with Illinois State playing UCA at 10 a.m. and Missouri at 7 p.m.