Just got in to Hearnes Center for Mizzou’s big match against Nebraska…if you’re heading out to the match tonight, be sure to bring some canned food to donate.
The No. 7 Huskers are on a four-match win streak, with the most recent win coming in an impressive three-set sweep of No. 19 Baylor in Waco Oct. 14.
With four players who have over 140 kills, Nebraska can certainly put some points on the board. The Huskers also feature four players with 140+ digs, so don’t sleep on their defense.
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Mizzou is up against a little history in this one, as the Tigers have not won against the Huskers since 2003 and haven’t won at home against them since 1982. However, Mizzou is also off to their best home start since 2002, and a win would mean the team would equal the nine-game home winning streaks of 1981, 1983, and 2002.
A lot of that Nebraska success has been on their end (as opposed to failure on Missouri’s end). The Huskers are year-in and year-out one of the top-ranked teams in the nation, so them beating Mizzou so much is more a nod to their success—especially given the Tigers’ success in volleyball since the Kreklows took over.
If there’s one thing that could hurt Nebraska, it’s their team hitting percentage. The Huskers are hitting a .237 clip—not a whole lot higher than Mizzou’s .214 percentage. We’ve seen the Tigers string together some very nice hitting percentages at home this year, and if they can do that and hold Nebraska down in that category…we could have ourselves a heck of a match.
Fun Facts: Lil’ Red is one of Nebraska’s mascots.
Lil’ Red is terrifying.
Notable alumni include billionaire Warren Buffet, former American League commissioner Gene Budig, and late Tonight Show host Johnny Carson.
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Tigers just took the floor. Looks like a good crowd filing in—which is a major testament to volleyball here at Missouri. The fact that so many fans are here with a football game tonight is very, very impressive.
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Catie Wilson gets the scoring started for the Tigers with a block. Mizzou’s also going with Wendy Wang at middle today. 2-1 Tigers early.
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Everybody’s real fired up on the Missouri side—both fans and players. Lots of emotion after every point for Mizzou.
Paola Ampudia doesn’t look phased against the best competition she’s maybe every faced. She’s attacking very well and just picked up a big block to tie the set at 7.
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Timeout Missouri with Nebraska winning 11-8. If these first 19 points are any indication of how the rest of the match will go, though, this is going to be a close one where just a couple of errors could mean the difference between winning and losing.
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Big run for Nebraska puts them up 16-9.
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Nebraska takes the first set 25-17, although Mizzou did do a nice job picking up some points at the end of the set. Maybe that’ll give the team some momentum heading into this crucial second set.
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Stat notes from the first set:
- Nebraska hit .375 while Mizzou hit .125. Let’s hope those numbers move back to the season averages.
- Paola Ampudia played very well, leading the Tigers with six kills. She also had a .278 hitting percentage.
- Annie Lopez led Mizzou with six digs.
It’s currently 7-4 Huskers in the second set.
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Paola just came barreling into press row Derek Jeter-style and rammed into Missourian reporter Len Goldman’s computer trying to keep a point alive. In the process, she moved the entirety of press row back about six inches.
You certainly can’t question the effort of the Tigers right now, even though it’s 10-6 Huskers.
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17-9 Huskers right now. They’re, in a word, good.
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22-14 Nebraska right now. They’re playing relatively error-free volleyball and have kept Missouri out of system all throughout the match.
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And Nebraska takes the set 25-15.
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Remember how I said Nebraska’s playing relatively error-free volleyball? They hit .371 in the second set and are hitting .373 on the match. It’s not easy to win matches when the opposing team is hitting that well.
Conversely, Mizzou hit just .161 in the second set—an improvement, yes, but that’s going to have to be at a far better level if the Tigers want to pull a repeat of the A&M comeback.
Paola’s been great, though—she has 10 kills and a great .290 hitting percentage coming from an outside hitter.
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A quick 4-0 start for Mizzou has Hearnes Center on its feet. Nebraska just called for a timeout very, very early into the set.
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Nebraska’s rebounded to take an 8-7 lead as Mizzou calls a timeout. Rolling with Nebraska’s punches really is not easy, and we’re learning that tonight. There’s a reason why this team is a top 10 squad.
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12-12. Good to see the team really battling with the Huskers here in the third set.
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15-12 Mizzou. The crowd’s really into this third set. And hey, don’t sleep on the team…they’ve come back from down 0-2 before…
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19-16 Mizzou still holding on to a lead. To say Paola has played well in this match would be a huge, huge, huge understatement.
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Tigers just won an INCREDIBLE point—a ton of bounces went Mizzou’s way along with some good hustle and in the end, Nebraska made an error to put Mizzou up 20-16.
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Catie Wilson with a MASSIVE block to put Mizzou up 21-17.
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And Wendy just picked up a kill to make it 22-17. A service error by Paola cuts it to 22-18 now.
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Set point upcoming for Mizzou…24-20.
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Paola picks up her 17th kill of the match to give Mizzou a 25-20 win in the third set. Nebraska just let Mizzou back into this match…now let’s see if the Tigers can convert and force a fifth and decisive set.
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A couple of notes from the third set:
- Mizzou hit .256, Nebraska .156. That’s the kind of reversal Mizzou needed to come back and snag a set.
- Paola is hitting an outrageous .354 on the match.
- The back row really picked it up in the third set. Ampudia, Annie Lopez, and Caitlyn Vann all have double-digit digs.
It’s 5-3 Nebraska early in the fourth set.
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Mizzou calls a timeout with Nebraska winning 10-6.
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16-7 Nebraska as Mizzou calls for another timeout. This has been a much cleaner set by the Huskers.
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Paola just picked up her first kill of the set to give her 18 on the match. Unfortunately, Nebraska is up 19-9.
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Nebraska takes the set 25-13 and wins the match 3-1. I’ll have postgame comments up later tonight.
Paola finished the match with 21 kills.
