No. 23 Mizzou volleyball falls short in thriller against No. 5 Stanford

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The No. 23 Mizzou volleyball team kept No. 5 Stanford on the ropes, on Tuesday night, but fell just short of the first Top-5 upset of the head coach Dawn Sullivan era. The Cardinals edged out the Tigers, 3-1, to hand MU its second loss of the season.

You can watch the full postgame press conference with Sullivan, as well as senior Janet deMarrais in the video player below.

Sullivan's crew kept the match close, from start to finish. Stanford only ended up out-scoring Mizzou by five total points throughout four sets, as the Tigers only lost each set by an average of 2.3 points.

Four MU standouts got into double-digit kill totals, on Tuesday night. Senior Caylen Alexander led the charge with a team-high 15 kills, while redshirt senior Tyrah Ariail (13), deMarrais (12) and senior Regan Haith (11) also followed her up in the double-digit club.

Senior Maya Sands compiled 16 digs and two aces during the match. She is now just one ace away from 100 in her career.

Overall, though, the Cardinals moved with a tad more precision than the Tigers in the close loss. Stanford ended up with a .408 hitting percentage, while Mizzou ended at .291.

Elia Rubin was the difference-maker for Stanford, at the end of the night. She tallied a match-high 20 kills to compliment two service aces. Three over her teammates also finished with at least 13 kills on the night.

With the loss, Sullivan and company drop to 3-2 on the season.

Up next - Mizzou will hit the road for action in the 'Fight at the Fort' tournament. Game one of the action will be against Wyoming on Thursday, Sept. 11 at 11 a.m. in Fort Worth, Texas.