Mizzou Volleyball’s season ends in second round of NCAA Tournament

LINCOLN, Neb. (KMIZ)

The No. 1 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers swept the Tigers in three sets in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Saturday night, ending Mizzou's season. Dawn Sullivan's crew finished this season with an 18-13 overall record.

In the opening set, No. 8-seeded Mizzou fell behind quickly as No. 1-seeded Nebraska scored the first seven points of the match, highlighted by three aces from Bergen Reilly. Mizzou rallied back to cut its deficit in set one to just two points after an 8-3 Tiger run, capped off by an ace from Lauren Forbes. However, the Cornhuskers outscored the Tigers 15-6 after Forbes' ace to win the first set 25-14.

After Nebraska took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in set two, Mizzou put up a strong battle with its backs against the wall. In the final set, the Tigers were the first team to 15 points after one of Janet deMarrais' team-high 13 kills. Then, freshman Sierra Dudley's only kill of the night gave Mizzou a 20-19 lead in the third set, but Nebraska went on a 6-1 scoring run to sweep the Tigers.

Dilara Gedikoglu finished right behind deMarrais for the team-lead in kills with 12 total.

As a team, Mizzou finished the match with 36 kills, which narrowly surpassed Nebraska who posted 35 total kills. However, the Cornhuskers were more dominant at the net, recording 12 blocks. The Tigers finished with only five blocks in the match.

Sullivan finishes her first year as Mizzou's head coach five games over the .500-mark. She led the Tigers to nine SEC wins after Mizzou only posted four conference victories during the 2021 and 2022 seasons combined. Sullivan's crew also reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2020.