Nov. 12, 2011
Box Score
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Mizzou volleyball team was swept by Texas A&M, 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-20), on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 12) at Reed Arena. The loss drops the Tigers to 20-11 overall and 6-8 in Big 12 play. Sophomore outside hitter Lisa Henning (Blue Springs, Mo.) led the Tigers with 11 kills while setter Molly Kreklow (Delano, Minn.) posted her fifth-straight double-double with 31 assists and 14 digs in the loss.
Aside from Henning, Mizzou got plenty of offense from its middle hitters as both Brittney Brimmage (East St. Louis, Ill.) and Whitney Little (Keller, Texas) posted nine kills. Brimmage did so on .350 hitting while Little pitched in a team-high three blocks in the match, including one solo tally. Freshman Katie O'Brien (Dallas, Texas) also had a fine match with six kills on just 18 attacks as well.
Defensively, Mizzou was led by Kreklow's 14 digs while senior libero Priscilla Armendariz (Blue Springs, Mo.) added 12. Freshman Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) added seven digs while Henning finished with seven as well. Little led the Tigers with three blocks while Mizzou finished with just four as a team.
The first set was very error-prone in the early going as things were close throughout the frame. In fact, the largest lead for the Tigers came at 12-10 but neither team really gained any kind of momentum until the Aggies opened a 19-16 lead following a kill from setter Allie Sawatzky. With the score at 17-16, head coach Wayne Kreklow used a timeout but a pair of overpasses plagued Mizzou out of the timeout as A&M took the next two points to open the 19-16 lead. In fact, Texas A&M won 10 of the final 11 points of the set as it claimed the opening frame, 25-17. Mizzou committed 10 attack errors in the first set and had just 10 kills.
The Tigers came out playing much better in the second set as they ran out to a 12-8 lead before allowing an 9-1 Aggie run capped by a kill from A&M's Alisia Kastmo. Brimmage ended the run with a right side attack that found the floor off of the Aggie block. Mizzou rallied back to tie the score at 19-19 following an attack error from Sawatzky, but A&M took six of the next nine points to win the set, 25-22, despite a late run from the Tigers that saw them fend off three straight set points.
Mizzou was better offensively in the second as it hit .294 with 13 kills, but the problem was slowing the Aggies attack that tallied 18 kills on .293 hitting. Mizzou was also aced four times in the second set alone as the passing really hurt the Tigers late in the set after they had tied the score at 19 all.
Following intermission, the Tigers came out and played well offensively as they built a 6-4 lead. The set stayed close until A&M opened a 17-11 lead after an 8-2 run that put the set out of reach for the Tigers. Mizzou attempted to rally late in the frame getting as close as 18-17 but ended up falling, 25-20, losing the match.
Mizzou will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 19, as it hosts Texas on senior night at 7 p.m. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MU_Volleyball.
