COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri Volleyball team (4-0) completed its first sweep of the Dawn Sullivan era, besting Northern Kentucky (1-3), 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-21), Friday evening at the Hearnes Center to open the 2023 Tiger Invitational.
Junior Jordan Iliff and sophomore Janet deMarrais led the Mizzou offense with 10 kills apiece Friday. Graduate student Dilara Gedikoglu chipped in eight with seven digs.
Sophomore libero Maya Sands notched a match-high 15 digs as Mizzou led the defensive category on NKU, 51-38. The Tigers also registered seven blocks compared to Northern Kentucky’s one.
Freshman setter Sierra Dudley continued to impress, garnering 26 assists as her season total increased to 172 over four matches.
FIRST SET (25-21 Mizzou, Mizzou leads 1-0)
The Tiger’s success in the opening set was in large part due to Dudley’s 12 assists, as Mizzou hit .333 on 15 kills to commence the match.
Northern Kentucky jumped out to an early 4-1 lead before Mizzou slowly climbed back, piggybacking off an ace from defensive specialist Lauren Forbes to embark on an 8-2 run (14-10) midway through the frame.
Consecutive kills from Colleen Finney and Gedikoglu provided a slight 21-17 edge for the Tigers.
MU closed out the opener with back-to-back kills from Iliff, before deMarrais finished off the stanza with a rally stopper of her own.
SECOND SET (25-14 Mizzou, Mizzou leads 2-0)
In the second frame, it was Mizzou who left the starting blocks hot, beginning the set with a 6-0 run.
After an attack error put the Norse…
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