Mizzou volleyball overcomes a tough week

COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ)

The Mizzou volleyball team ended a week which included a lot of lows, in winning fashion on Thursday night.

The Tigers won two-straight over the Arkansas Razorbacks following a tough series with the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats.

However, between those two matches, head coach Josh Taylor said a lot happened.

The Tigers lost three players to injuries and opt outs:

• Senior middle blocker Tyanna Omazic tore her ACL
• Senior outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh opted out due to COVID-19
• Junior setter Jaden Newsome broke her hand

"All of that in the span of a few days, after losing two big matches," Taylor said. "It would have been really easy to fold and allow that to define us, but the girls did a really nice job of relying on each other and fighting through adversity. I'm proud of their toughness."

You can watch the full interview with Josh Taylor in the video player below.

Taylor's players added that mental toughness was a necessary quality in getting through the past few days.

"Regardless of what happens we have to be ready to go," junior Andrea Fuentes said. "It was tough and we talked about it, as a team. We recognized how big of a struggle that could be. We decided, as a team, that we were going to respond as best as we could to adversity."

MU's two-straight wins over Arkansas were led by Kylie Deberg. The outside hitter finished the series with 48 kills.

"Me, as a setter, I obviously try to get more people involved whenever I can," Fuentes said. "Obviously to score, but to give Kylie a little bit of down time and recovery time. For her to be able to focus on other things because she definitely handles a lot for us and has a lot of pressure."

You can watch the full interview with Fuentes and sophomore outside hitter Anna Dixon in the video players below.