University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
16-3
Missouri
14-1
Volleyball Loses 3-1 at Missouri
October 04, 2015 | Volleyball
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Tennessee Volunteers volleyball team lost to the Missouri Tigers 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-27, 25-17) on Sunday at the Kearnes Center.
The Vols (16-3, 2-2 SEC) could not keep pace with the Missouri offensive attack. The Tigers (14-1, 2-0 SEC) had 57 kills and hit .280 for the match, the highest percentage the Vols have allowed in a match this season. Tennessee had entered the weekend ranked fifth nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.123).
"I thought we played hard for the most part, but we didn't control the ball as well as we have in the past or the way we expect to," Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick said. "All of our ball control was inconsistent during the match, starting with our serve-receive and continuing with transition.
"We got a little frustrated and felt we were giving points away, and you can't do that against a good team.Our lack of ball control really led to our inconsistencies in running our offense, both off serve-receive and in transition."
Erica Treiber, Raina Hembry and Kanisha Jimenez led a varied Tennessee attack with nine kills each. Bri Holmes added eight kills.
Tennessee has a pair of matches coming up this week, starting with a nationally televised match at LSU on Wednesday. It will air on ESPNU at 9 p.m. Eastern. The Vols will host Arkansas next Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The Vols led early in the match, but Missouri took the lead on the 15th point -- a kill by Julia Tower -- and led the rest of the opening set. The Vols rallied from four points down to cut the lead to one point at 17-16 on a Missouri attack error, but the Tigers finished on an 8-1 run to win the first set 25-17.
Tennessee turned the tide midway through the second set. Junior Bri Holmes hit back-to-back kills to put UT up for good 19-17. Missouri closed the lead to a point at 21-20, but the Vols wrapped up the second set on a 4-0 run. Raina Hembry dunked a ball back over the net to end the set, 25-20.
Missouri did its best hitting in the third set, hitting at a .500 percentage throughout, while the Vols hit .286. The Tigers jumped on a 5-1 run early to go up 8-4. Missouri led the rest of the way, eventually stretching its lead to eight points.
The fourth set was similar to the third. After a close start, Missouri had a 7-2 run to take a 14-9 lead. A kill by Holmes cut the lead to 18-14 late, but the Tigers closed out the match by winning seven of the final 10 points.
Missouri out-dug Tennessee 56 to 49, just the fourth time this year the Vols have been on the losing end of that statistic. Bridgette Villano and Brooke Schumacher had nine digs each to lead Tennessee.
Missouri's .280 hitting percentage is the highest Tennessee has allowed this season and the first time a team has hit above .250. The Vols have held eight opponents this season to below .100 hitting percentage.
