Mizzou volleyball earns first SEC road victory of the season at Auburn

No. 25 Missouri snapped its two-match losing skid with a road victory over Auburn 3-1 (23-25, 32-30, 25-17, 25-23).

A grueling Southeastern Conference slate had Missouri (10-7, 2-4) hurtling down the standings and the AVCA rankings. The Tigers began the season ranked No. 17 in the country, but a shaky non-conference schedule had them reeling. Once SEC play began, they lost back-to-back contests against then-No. 13 Texas A&M and then-No. 2 Texas.

Missouri seemed poised to break out of its slump during a home stretch against unranked competition. However, it ultimately split those contests, with its first SEC win coming against Arkansas and a loss to Oklahoma in a reverse sweep.

Once again returning to the road, Missouri was slated against stiff competition, with the Florida and Auburn both receiving votes in the latest ranking. That meant Missouri had a target on its back in enemy territory. The Tigers responded to Friday’s 3-1 loss against Florida by taking care of Auburn in a must-win match.

Missouri dropped the opening set but bounced back with a thrilling win in the second, 32-30.

The win provided Missouri the momentum shift needed to propel it past Auburn in four sets.

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Mizzou volleyball earns first SEC road victory of the season at Auburn

After the weekend matchups, Missouri resides in 10th place in the SEC standings. The victory over Auburn provides a much-needed spark as the Tigers are set to face several other teams amongst the lower half of the conference standings.

Sunday’s performance also marked one of the Tigers’ most complete team efforts of the season.

Three Tigers reached double figures in the kills column with senior outside hitters Caylen Alexander and Janet deMarrais recording 19 and 25, respectively. DeMarrais notched the game-sealing kill in each of Missouri’s three winning sets.

One of the nation’s top liberos, senior Maya Sands, stood out once again for the Tigers, finishing with 23 digs. Her understudy, freshman Zoey Matias-Lopez did the same. Matias-Lopez totaled a career-high of 22 digs.

Redshirt junior setter Marina Crownover made a difference on both offense and defense as she totaled a season-best 54 assists while adding 11 digs.

This performance could be a sign of things to come with the season entering its later stages. Missouri will return home for a match against Mississippi at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Hearnes Center.