This week in Mizzou Athletics
October 21, 2019 | Sports,
By Olivia Evans
The Tigers took some brutal losses across the board this week, though some teams managed to find a way to pull out the win. Regardless of the wins and losses, the Tigers have lots more gameplay coming up. Here’s what’s happening this week in Mizzou Athletics.
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country:
This past Friday, the Tigers toed the line in Wisconsin at the Nuttycombe Invitational. This meet would serve as their last regular season meet of the year. The Tigers had the chance to run against more than 30 teams, including the no. 1 seed on both men’s and women’s sides. Mizzou entered three squads into the meet: a women’s A and B team, and a men’s A team. In the women’s A race, Mizzou secured a solid 20th place team finish behind Sarah Chapman, who finished 52nd individually. Tom Geroge led the men’s side by placing 73rd individually and running his season-best 8k time of 24:27.2. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the men’s team failed to get a team score after three of their seven runners dropped off the race.
The Tigers will now prepare for the postseason with two weeks of training before heading to Lexington, KY for the SEC Championship Race on Nov. 1.
Football:
This weekend the Tigers lost 21-14 to a 1-5 Vanderbilt team in Nashville on the Commodores’ Homecoming. This is only the second road game of the season for Mizzou, as well as their second loss of the season. The Tigers now sit at 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the SEC. Albert Okwuegbunam and Larry Rountree III both found their way into the endzone for Mizzou. Kelly Bryant seemed to struggle, completing only 13 for 26 for only 140 yards alongside one interception. The Tigers really struggled to get in field goal range against the Commodore defense, and when they did, Tucker McCann was unable to connect and went 0 for 2 on field goal attempts.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nick Bolton continued to step in and fill the role of Cale Garrett. He had a career-high 15 tackles, leading the Mizzou defense. Bolton is now the SEC leader in tackles per game and solo tackles per game. Cameron Wilkins also helped the Tigers by snagging the only interception of the game, which happened to be his first career interception as well.
The Tigers will use this week to regroup and refocus before they hit the road again on Friday. Mizzou will be heading to Lexington, KY to face the Wildcats in their third consecutive conference game of the season. Last year, Kentucky beat the Tigers on a last-second play in the fourth at home and had one of their best seasons to date. This year, the Wildcats have struggled to be only 1-4 in the SEC and 3-4 overall. A win this weekend could bolster the Tigers back into good standings.
Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving:
The Tigers competed in a dual with SEC opponent Florida this past Friday at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. The Tigers and Gators split the dual, where the Tiger men won by a score of 190.5 points. The Lady Gators swept the Tigers 186 to 124. Mizzou men won a total of 12 events, while the women accomplished an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA 200 medley relay. Just two meets in this season and the Tigers have already achieved 53 lifetime bests.
“We had a lot of fun out there getting the SEC dual meet season started. It was a close meet on the women’s side, they competed their hearts out and really followed our process. They stayed positive the whole time and I’m really pleased with their efforts,” head coach Andrew Grevers said.
The Tigers will have some recovery time until they travel to Springfield, MO on Nov. 2 to face off against Missouri State.
Wrestling:
The 2019 campaign opened up for Mizzou this past Saturday with the annual Black and Gold Dual. The Tigers had 11 intrasquad matches. The Gold Team ended up taking this year’s victory. At this point early in the season, several Tigers are recovering from some minor nagging injuries while others are finally healthy and ready to compete. Zach Elam has announced that he will be redshirting this season while he focuses both on his health and making his way to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
The Tigers will hit the road in two weeks when they travel to Virginia Tech on Nov. 2.
Women’s Basketball:
The Tigers will open up their season this Thursday with an exhibition game against Truman State at Mizzou Arena. Just last week the Tigers were picked to finish ninth in the SEC in the preseason poll. Despite the loss of Sophie Cunningham, Mizzou remains confident in its ability to have a good season. At SEC media day Coach Pingeton talked about how this new freshman class is very athletic and skilled.
Soccer:
This past weekend the Tigers were down in Lexington, KY facing off against the Wildcats. The Tigers went scoreless for the first period and went into the half down by 1. Julissa Cisneros scored a goal in the second period to tie the game, but despite this, the Tigers failed to hold off the Wildcats and lost 2-1. Mizzou now sits at 7-7-1 overall and 1-5-1 in the SEC.
The Tigers will play twice this week: on Thursday they take on Alabama at home then travel to Texas A&M for their weekend game.
Tennis:
The Mizzou Tennis squad is currently playing in Norman, OK as part of the 2019 ITA Central Regional Championships. This match will feature over 20 teams and 150 student-athletes. Upon return to Columbia midweek, the Tigers will have a week of downtime before heading to Miami to take part in the FIU Fall Invite on Nov. 2.
Volleyball:
Mizzou took down the Tennesse Volunteers this Sunday at Hearnes in 3-1 series in their annual pink out game. Kylie Deberg, Leketor Member-Meneh, Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana and Tyanna Omazic all posted 12 or more kills against the Vols. The Tigers are currently ranked 25th in the country with an overall record of 12-4. They are currently 4-2 in the SEC. The Tiger offense was gelling on a new level today. Players were working to get the ball around so everyone had a chance, and this was viewed as a collective team win. This game was also only the Tigers’ second double-digit blocking game of the season; Deberg led with four blocks.
On Friday, the Tigers faced the Tigers of Auburn where they recorded a 3-1 victory. This game was a mirror image of Sunday’s game. Mizzou swept the first two sets, dropped the third, then came back to win in the fourth. Deberg, Member-Meneh, Hollingsworth-Santana and Omazic all had 10 or more kills in this series as well.
This upcoming weekend the Tigers will have a road/home split series. They will take on Arkansas on Friday then return home to play Mississippi State at the Hearnes Center.
Edited by Emma Moloney | ehm3gd@mail.missouri.edu