Down 2-0 and with their season on the line Friday, the Mizzou volleyball team gave a valiant effort late to try to extend the match, but came up just a few points short. The Tigers lost 3-0 to No. 9 Kansas in Round Two of the NCAA Tournament.
The Jayhawks dominated the first two sets of the game, hitting .316 and .359 compared to Mizzou’s .061 and .024. Through all three sets, juniors Carly Kan and Emily Thater posted the best percentage for the Tigers, with Kan at 12 kills and hitting .200 and Thater with six kills and hitting .286.
In the first set, the score stayed pretty close between the Tigers and Jayhawks, with the gap between the two teams only getting to five points through about the first half of the set. The Jayhawks then started taking control of the set, gaining as much as an eight-point lead before taking the set 25-16.
After getting a taste of how the Jayhawks would be playing in the game, Mizzou looked a lot stronger in the second set. The Tigers kept Kansas to within five points for much of the set, even going up 3-1 to start the set. However, once the score reached 8-7 for the Jayhawks, the Tigers never got back into a position to take the lead. The Tigers committed six attack errors in the second set, while Kansas sophomore Kelsie Payne had five kills during the set.
The third set was by far the best performance of the night by the Tigers, as Mizzou led Kansas in points for almost the entire set. Where things went wrong for Mizzou was when, one point away from winning the set, the Tigers couldn’t capitalize and the Jayhawks came back to win the set 27-25 and win the match 3-0. Mizzou had their best hitting percentage of the night at .103 during that set and kept Kansas to just .116, but it wasn’t quite enough to take the win.
Mizzou finishes their season 27-6, ranked 25^th in the nation, with the third highest winning percentage (.818) in team history.