Volleyball Opens Four-Match Homestand Wednesday

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri Volleyball team (9-5, 1-2 SEC) will kickoff a four-match homestand this week with a trio of matches at the Hearnes Center.

Mizzou will host in-state foe Southeast Missouri (7-9) on Wednesday to commence the week before a pair of SEC matches Friday and Sunday. The Tigers will then face Alabama (9-5, 1-2 SEC) on Friday in their SEC Home Opener before wrapping the week against Tennessee (9-5, 2-2 SEC) Sunday afternoon.

Match times are set for 7 p.m., CT (SEMO and Alabama) along with 2 p.m., CT (Tennessee).

All three matches this week will be televised on SEC Network+. Casey Roehl and former Tiger libero Riley Rohler will be on the call Wednesday while Max Thoma and Rohler will be on the broadcast for both SEC matches Friday and Sunday.

Mizzou will conclude its four-match homestand with a Sunday meeting against Mississippi State on Oct. 20.

The Tigers rank second in the SEC for aces per set (2.00) and kills per set (14.14), third for hitting percentage (.295) and fourth for both assists per set (13.18) and aces (100).

PROMOTIONS

• Wednesday’s match against SEMO is Military Appreciation & Mental Health Awareness night. The Tigers will wear Military Appreciation shirts during warmups.
• Friday’s Alabama match is Mizzou’s SEC Home Opener and a Gold Rush. Fans are encouraged to wear Gold and can receive roller banners while supplies last.
• Sunday’s contest against Tennessee will be MU’s Breast Cancer Aware­ness match presented by MU Health Care. The Tigers will wear specialty pink jerseys for the match.

SERIES HISTORY

• Mizzou leads the all-time series with in-state foe Southeast Missouri, 11-3.
• The two Missouri institutions last met in 2013 (Sept. 21) with the Tigers earning a 3-0 sweep in Columbia. Mizzou has won each of the last five meetings dating back to 2000 (Sept. 9).
• Mizzou leads the all-time series with Alabama, 14-5, and most recently swept the Crimson Tide Oct. 11, 2023, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
• Missouri has a slight 11-10 edge in the all-time series with Tennessee.
• The Volunteers took both meetings in 2023 in Knoxville (3-0, Sept. 20) and in Columbia (3-1, Nov. 25) and have won each of the last three.
• Mizzou last beat Tennessee, 3-2, on Nov. 24, 2021.

1. 13 KENTUCKY RECAP

• Mizzou most recently fell at No. 13 Kentucky in three sets Oct. 6 at Historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.
• Graduate student Mychael Vernon led the Tigers offensively with nine kills on a .333 hitting percentage with six digs, two blocks and an ace. The Ossining, New York, native, also surpassed 200 career blocks in the contest.
• Janet deMarrais added seven kills while Colleen Finney finished with six (.750) in Mizzou’s third top-25 matchup of the season.
• Colleen Finney has totaled five or more kills in each of Mizzou last eight matches. She is now three blocks away from 250 in her career. Finney ranks second in the SEC with a .497 hitting percentage (.459 in SEC play, first).
• Marina Crownover totaled 17 assists to go with six digs, a block, a kill and an ace.
• Maya Sands grabbed 10 digs with five assists.
• Jordan Iliff chipped in four kills and six digs while Regan Haith had three kills, three blocks and two digs.
• Regan Haith paced Mizzou Sunday with three blocks and has posted three or more in each of her last three starts.
• Sunday marked Mizzou’s first of five volleyball matches on SEC Network this season. It was also Mizzou’s third top-25 matchup of the season.

MYCHAEL VERNON

• Mychael Vernon paces Mizzou with 200 kills (4.00 kills/set) on a .308 hitting percentage this season. She has notched 52 kills (4.73 kills/set, fifth in SEC) during conference action.
• The graduate transfer outside hitter ranks seventh in the SEC for kills and eighth for points (4.52 points/set, 226.0 points, ninth). She was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30.
• Vernon, an Ossining, New York, native, has started in all 14 matches for Mizzou this season and has also notched 119 digs and 28.0 blocks, playing six rotations.
• She has registered double-digit kills in all but two matches this season.
• Vernon most recently surpassed 200 career blocks in her collegiate career at Kentucky on Oct. 6 (173 at Oregon State).
• Vernon registered 17 kills on a career-best .640 hitting percentage, with seven digs and career-best matching three aces her SEC debut at LSU on Sept. 27.
• Vernon followed that effort with a career-best matching 26 kills on a .311 clip in a five-set battle against Texas A&M on Sept. 29. She also added 11 digs, four blocks, and two assists, marking her sixth double-double of the season.

JORDAN ILIFF

• Right side hitter Jordan Iliff continues to be an offensive threat for the Tigers. The senior from St. Louis is second on Mizzou with 183 kills (3.66 kills/set, 12th in the SEC) in 2024.
• She has posted double-digit kills in all but three matches this campaign and was awarded SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16.
• Iliff has surpassed 20 kills twice in 2024 including a career-best 24 against Illinois (Sept. 20) with five aces and 14 digs.
• She set a new Mizzou program record (25-point rally scoring era) and tied an SEC record of nine aces at Texas A&M on Sept. 29. The senior also logged her seventh double-double of the season with 15 kills and 10 digs. Iliff’s nine aces overall tied for first all-time in Mizzou history with Yvette Buhlig (nine aces, twice in 1990).
• Iliff leads the SEC for aces (0.74 aces/set, 37 aces). She is also ranked fifth and seventh in the nation for aces per set and aces, respectively.
• She ranks in the top-10 in the SEC for points (4.60 points/set, seventh, 230.0, eighth).
• The 2024 Preseason All-SEC Selection is 29 kills away for 1,000 in her career. She also is seven aces away from 100 as a Tiger.

MARINA CROWNOVER

• Marina Crownover leads Mizzou with 365 assists and has been the Tigers’ starting setter in each of the last seven matches (eight starts on 12 appearances in 2024).
• Crownover ranks 10th in the SEC with 9.36 assists per set.
• The Austin, Texas, native, has posted 33 or more assists in five of the last seven matches.
• Crownover, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Texas, notched a career best 59 assists and 15 digs against Illinois on Sept. 20.
• She has totaled a trio of double-doubles in 2024 and was named SEC Setter of the Week on Sept. 16.

MAYA SANDS

•  Maya Sands, the 2023 SEC Libero of the Year, leads Mizzou with 220 digs (4.40 digs/set) this season.
• She ranks third in the SEC for digs per set and fourth for total digs.
• The junior from Rock Falls, Illinois, has notched double-digit digs in every match this season. She has posted 20-plus digs in three matches in 2024.
• Sands notched a season-best 25 digs against Drake on Aug. 30.
• In SEC play, she has grabbed 40 digs (3.64 digs per set) which ranks ninth in the league.

ABOUT THE TIGERS

• The 2024 campaign marks the second for head coach Dawn Sullivanwho led the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2020 as she was selected SEC Coach of the Year this past fall.
• During her first season, Sullivan guided Missouri to an impressive 18-13 mark including a .500 (9-9) record in SEC play, surpassing the Tigers’ combined win total from the past two seasons (nine in 2022, five in 2021).
• In SEC play, Missouri went on both three-match and four-match win streaks in 2023, while also securing five wins over top-50 AVCA (based on KPI, Pablo, and RPI rankings) teams and nine wins over top-100 AVCA teams including two ranked wins over Auburn (#23 and #24, Oct. 20 & Nov. 12).
• The eight-win overall improvement from 2022 (nine wins), tied for 12th nationally and ranked second among Power Five institutions.
• Mizzou received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll over the first two weeks of the season. The Tigers will face eight teams (nine matches) ranked in the preseason top 25.
• Mizzou returns six of seven starters from 2023 including a trio of All-SEC performers in Maya Sands(SEC Libero of the Year), Jordan Iliff and Sierra Dudley. Sands and Iliff also earned AVCA Southeast All-Region recognition.

LOOKING AHEAD

• Following this week’s trio of matches, Mizzou will conclude its four-match homestand against Mississippi State on Oct. 20 at the Hearnes Center. First serve is set for 2 p.m., CT and the match will be televised on SEC Network+.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

• For all the latest information on Mizzou Volleyball, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Tigers on X, Instagram, and Facebook.

Advertisement