Volleyball Set for Double SEC Road Weekend

By
Gary Lee
-

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri volleyball team (9-4, 1-1 SEC) will hit the road for a pair of conference matchups this weekend in Louisiana and Texas.

The Tigers first travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to face LSU (5-6, 0-1 SEC) on Friday at 7:30 p.m., CT. From there, Missouri will continue its trip, taking on Texas A&M (10-3, 2-1 SEC) Sunday afternoon in College Station, Texas. First serve is set for 3 p.m., CT.

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Friday’s match against LSU will be televised on SEC Network+ with Garrett Walvoord and Fran Flory on the broadcast. Sunday’s matchup is set to air on SEC Network and will feature the broadcast tandem of Krista Blunk and Shelby Coppedge.

With one more conference victory, Mizzou will tie the Tiger’s SEC win total from the past two seasons (2021 and 2022).

 

SERIES HISTORY: LSU

  • Missouri leads the all-time series with LSU, 13-6.
  • Despite this advantage, Missouri has lost its previous two matches against LSU. The teams last met in a five-set battle on Nov. 12, 2022, with LSU edging Mizzou (3-2) in Columbia, Missouri.
  • Missouri last beat LSU, 3-2, on Jan. 30 and 29, 2021, in a two-match set at home in Columbia, Missouri.
  • Mizzou last bested LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Oct. 2, 2020 (3-1).

SERIES HISTORY: TEXAS A&M

  • Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Missouri, 33-19.
  • In the Tigers’ latest matchup against the Aggies, Missouri split a two-match set in Columbia, Missouri. The Tigers secured a 3-0 win over the Aggies on Nov. 19, 2022, while Texas A&M swept Mizzou (3-0) the following day (Nov. 20, 2022).
  • The Tigers have not faced Texas A&M on the road for six seasons, as Missouri last traveled to College Station in 2017.
  • Mizzou last bested Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, on Sept. 24, 2017 (3-1).

TEXAS-MIZZOU CONNECTION

  • Assistants Wendel Camargo and Cullen Irons have spent time in College Station, Texas, working at Texas A&M.
  • Camargo who serves as Mizzou’s Recruiting Coordinator and coaches the setters, spent five years as an assistant coach at Texas A&M with head coach Laura Kuhn.
  • As a member of Kuhn’s staff, Camargo helped lead the Aggies (23-8, 13-5 SEC) to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen as Kuhn was awarded SEC Coach of the Year in 2019.
  • Irons spent a brief time at Texas A&M before joining Mizzou head coach Dawn Sullivan as an assistant at UNLV.
  • Sophomore outside hitter Janet deMarrais returns to her home state Sunday when the Tigers face Texas A&M. deMarrais is from Colleyville, Texas, a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, just under three hours north of Texas A&M. It will mark the first time as a student-athlete at Mizzou, that deMarrais will compete in the Lone Star State.
  • Mizzou Director of Volleyball Operations Emily (Siefken) Garrett previously served as the Director of Operations at Texas Tech before joining Dawn Sullivan‘s staff at Mizzou.

SOUTH CAROLINA RECAP

  • Missouri picked up its first conference win of the season at home on Sept. 24 in Columbia, Missouri, marking head coach Dawn Sullivan‘s first SEC win at Mizzou.
  • After Sunday’s victory, the Tigers matched their win total (9) from the 2022 season.
  • Jordan Iliff paced Mizzou with a career-high 21 kills on a .455 hitting clip. The junior added a career-best 15 digs, two aces and two blocks on the night. It marked her second career double-double (second of the season).
  • Sophomore Janet deMarrais also had an impressive match, tallying a career-high 14 kills (.297), six digs, four blocks and three aces. It marked the third straight match she has recorded double-digit kills.
  • Freshman setter Sierra Dudley tallied 45 assists to help lead the Tigers to a season-best .299 team-hitting percentage. Dudley added 11 digs to go with four kills, three blocks and two aces on the day. It marked her sixth career 40-plus assist match and fourth double-double.
  • Dilara Gedikoglu and Morgan Isenberg (.294) each added nine kills for the Tigers on Sunday. Gedikoglu also tallied her fifth double-double of the season, grabbing 13 digs against the Gamecocks.
  • Libero Maya Sands led the way behind the 10-foot line for the Tigers, contributing 24 digs, six assists and an ace. It marked her fifth 20-plus dig outing in 2023.

FIRST SEC WIN AT MIZZOU

  • Missouri Head Coach Dawn Sullivan picked up her first career SEC win at Missouri on Sept. 24 over South Carolina (3-1).
  • Sullivan previously earned an SEC win over Arkansas (Dec. 7, 2021) in the NIVC Quarterfinals as UNLV captured the 2021 National Invitational Volleyball Championship.

CLOSING IN ON DOUBLE-DIGIT WINS

  • With one more victory this season, the Tigers (9-4, 1-1 SEC) will eclipse double-digit wins for the first time since 2020 (16-8, 15-7 SEC).
  • Additionally, another SEC victory for Mizzou will tie the Tiger’s conference win total from the past two seasons (2021 and 2022).

IT’S JO TIME

  • Jordan Iliff had a career-best day against the Gamecocks, tallying a career-high 21 kills on an impressive .455 clip (one error on 44 total attacks). Iliff also recorded a personal-best 15 digs as Missouri defeated South Carolina (Sept. 24) to snag its first SEC win of the season.
  • Iliff’s stellar performance against the Gamecocks marked her second double-double on the season. Prior to Sunday’s match, the six-rotation hitter registered her first career double-double of 10 kills and 13 digs in the series finale with Eastern Illinois (Sept. 15).
  • The junior has been a force at the net for the Tigers during their 2023 campaign, as she leads Mizzou this season with 157 kills.
  • Iliff ranks 12th in the SEC with 3.34 kills per set. She also is averaging 3.90 points per set, good for 10th in the SEC.
  • The St. Louis native has registered nine matches with 10 plus kills thus far, to go along with eight matches with five or more digs.
  • Iliff started the season with a bang, logging double-digit kills in five consecutive matches to start the 2023 campaign, from Aug. 25 through Sept. 2. She commenced the season with 19 kills in the 2023 opener against Illinois State (Aug. 25).

OUR LIBERO

  • Maya Sands totaled 24 digs in the Tigers’ latest matchup against South Carolina on Sept. 24, marking her fifth 20-plus dig outing in 2023. She also added six assists and an ace to help secure Missouri’s win.
  • In the Tigers’ series finale against Eastern Illinois (Sept. 15), Sands tallied a career-best 25 digs to go along with two assists.
  • The sophomore libero leads Mizzou in the back row with 219 digs (4.56 digs/set, third in the SEC), including eight matches with 15 or more digs. Sands currently ranks second in digs in the SEC.
  • Sands opened her time as a Tiger strong, logging 60 digs over the course of Mizzou’s first three matches of the season on Aug. 25-27.
  • The libero also paces the Tigers at the service line (22 aces, fifth in the SEC, 0.46 ace/set, seventh in the SEC), as she has tallied three aces four times this season.

FRESHMAN SETTER

  • Sierra Dudley handed out 45 assists to help Missouri register a season-best .299 team-hitting percentage in its win over South Carolina (Sept. 24). Dudley also logged 11 digs to go with four kills, three blocks and two aces in Mizzou’s first SEC victory of the season.
  • Dudley has produced double-digit assists in every match this season, including six with 40-plus assists. She ranks fifth in the SEC with 434 assists this season (9.43 assists/set, 10th in the SEC).
  • Dudley’s time as a Tiger got off to an impressive start after the setter registered a career-best 52 assists in Missouri’s third match of the season against Colgate (Aug 27). The freshman combined for 146 assists over the course of Missouri’s season-opening tournament (Aug. 25-27).
  • The Spartanburg, South Carolina, native, has proved to also be an offensive threat, tallying three or more kills in eight matches this season. She recorded a career-best five kills in the Tigers’ matchup against Xavier on Sept. 9.
  • In the back row, Dudley has logged 10 matches with five or more digs, including securing double-digit digs four times this season (four double-doubles).
  • She commenced the campaign with a trio of double-doubles Aug. 25-27.

MO MAKING MOVES

  • Morgan Isenberg recorded nine kills in the Tigers’ first SEC win of the season over South Carolina (Sept. 24). The middle blocker led Mizzou at the net with six block assists.
  • The junior has registered eight matches with five or more kills out of the middle for Mizzou, including three with double-digit kills.
  • Isenberg secured a career-best 16 kills on a .444 hitting clip to help the Tigers secure a five-set win over Xavier on Sept. 9.
  • At the net, she has tallied five or more blocks a total of six times in 2023, including a career-high nine blocks against South Dakota (Sept. 2).
  • The Wildwood, Missouri, native ranks second in the SEC this season with 58 total blocks (1.23 blocks/set, sixth in SEC).

DEMARRAIS ALL THE WAY

  • Janet deMarrais recorded a career day at the net against South Carolina on Sept. 24, as she tallied a personal-best 14 kills on a .297 hitting clip in the Tigers’ first SEC victory of the year. She also added a career-high six digs, four blocks and three aces.
  • Sunday’s matchup against the Gamecocks was deMarrais’ third-straight double-digit kill match. It also marked the second consecutive match that the outside from Colleyville, Texas, was featured in Mizzou’s starting lineup (previously last started Aug. 25 & 26).
  • deMarrais previously contributed 10 kills in Mizzou’s match at #14 Tennessee to open conference play (Sept. 20). Behind the 10-foot line, she also added four digs and an ace.
  • The sophomore has recorded 37 kills over the last three matches (3.36 kills/set) and has totaled 89 kills (2.07 kills/set) thus far in 2023.

GEDIKOGLU, MORE THAN JUST A FUN NAME TO SAY

  • Dilara Gedikoglu leads Mizzou in 2023 with four double-doubles. She has finished in double-digits attacking six times.
  • The Alanya, Turkey, native, compiled a season-best 20 kills to go with 13 digs in her third match as a Tiger (Aug. 27 vs. Colgate).
  • Gedikoglu has also finished with 14 kills three times including the series finale with Eastern Illinois (Sept. 15) to go with a season-best 15 digs on a .297 clip.
  • She ranks second on Mizzou with 124 kills (2.64 kills/set) and 112 digs (2.38 digs/set) this season. The outside hitter has posted five double-digit dig matches in 2023.
  • Gedikoglu most recently recorded nine kills to go with 13 digs and four assists in the win over South Carolina (Sept. 24).
  • In her career, Gedikoglu just surpassed both 800 career kills and digs and enters the weekend with 808 kills and 808 digs.

NON-CONFERENCE RECAP

  • Mizzou fashioned an 8-3 mark in non-conference matches this season.
  • The Tigers opened the 2023 season with five straight victories over Missouri’s pair of home tournaments (Mizzou Classic and Tiger Invitational) Aug. 25-27 and Sept. 1-3. In that span, Missouri pulled off a pair of five-set wins including a reverse sweep of Central Arkansas (Aug. 26) along with two 3-0 wins.
  • Missouri fell to then #3-ranked Louisville at home on Sept. 3.
  • The Tigers wrapped non-conference action on the road, going 2-1 in Cincinnati at the Xavier Tournament (Sept. 8-9) and 1-1 in a road series with Eastern Illinois (Sept. 14-15).

ABOUT THE TIGERS

  • Head coach Dawn Sullivan enters her first season at the helm of the program in 2023.
  • Sullivan amassed a 109-38 (.741) mark over five seasons at UNLV, leading the Rebels to five-straight postseason appearances and a pair of Mountain West Championships.
  • Sullivan has added seven transfers and four freshmen since her arrival in Mid-Missouri this past December.
  • The Tigers return juniors Jordan Iliff, Lauren Forbes, Morgan Isenberg, and sophomores Madilyn Sell and Janet deMarrais from the 2022 team.
  • Iliff, a right side hitter from St. Louis, was named to the 2023 USA Volleyball Women’s Collegiate National Team in June. The junior was third on Mizzou offensively in 2022 with 227 kills (2.39 kills per set).
  • Missouri finished the 2022 campaign with a 9-19 record, placing 13th in the SEC with a 2-16 mark.

NEW FACES ON THE BENCH

  • The 2023 team features a multitude of new staff members in addition to head coach Dawn Sullivan.
  • Cullen Irons, who coached with Sullivan at UNLV, was added as an assistant coach in January.
  • Wendel Camargo and Arielle Wilson will serve as Sullivan’s Recruiting Coordinators. Wilson, a four-time NCAA Champion, and four-time Big Ten Champion at Penn State, is also the Defensive Coordinator.
  • Technical Coordinator Jhenna Gabriel competed for Sullivan at UNLV in 2022, helping the Rebels secure the Mountain West Regular-Season Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Gabriel also earned All-American honors at Texas before her graduate transfer season at UNLV.

NEWCOMERS

LOOKING AHEAD

  • Mizzou next continues SEC play, as the Tigers return home to host Kentucky at the Hearnes Center (6:30 p.m., CT) on Friday, Oct. 6.
  • The match against the Wildcats will be streamed on SEC Network+.
  • Oct. 6 is Alumni Night and Mental Health Awareness Night. The Tigers will recognize the 2013 SEC Championship team for their 20th anniversary.
  • Fans in attendance will receive Koozies and Rally Towels, while supplies last.
  • Following the match, fans can stick around for post-match autographs from the Mizzou Volleyball Team.

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