LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Fourth-ranked Missouri swept No. 16 Kentucky 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16) on Sunday behind an efficient offensive performance from the Tiger pin hitters.
Senior All-American Lisa Henning played up to her billing with 17 kills on .556 hitting and freshman Carly Kan added 15 on .542 hitting. Junior Emily Wilson added seven kills on .333 hitting as the pin hitters combined for 39 kills on .493 hitting. The win improves Mizzou to 33-0 and 17-0 in SEC play as they are just one win away from running the table in the regular season.
"I was really impressed with how we played [Sunday] against a really good Kentucky team on the road," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "Our ball control, off-the-ball blockers and back-row play was about as good as it has been all season. The hardest part about [Sunday] was coming off of Friday night after we clinched and being ready to go. After how we played [Sunday], it was pretty clear that they were ready to go. Great job all around [Sunday]."
The story of the night was the Tiger pin hitters as they helped Mizzou hit .407 with 47 kills in the three sets. Senior setter Molly Kreklow had 39 assists while guiding Mizzou to better than .300 hitting for the 28th time in 33 matches. Junior libero Sarah Meister was also very good on Sunday, collecting 16 digs, a match-high, doubling the top output from Kentucky.
No. 8 USC 3, Arizona St. 0
LOS ANGELES - USC hitters dominated from the outside as the Trojans (24-5, 14-4 Pac-12) completed a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-15, 25-21) of Arizona State (18-12, 7-11 Pac-12) at the Galen Center on Sunday
Freshman outside Elise Ruddins led the way with 14.5 points and collected 14 kills (2e, 26att) with a .462 hitting percentage.
USC out-hit its opponent for the 26th time this season with a .244 hitting percentage (50k, 20e) on 123 attacks. Arizona State finished the day with a .100 hitting rate (27k, 15e) on 120 swings. The Trojans kept the Sun Devil attack at bay thanks in large part to senior Natalie Hagglund who put up 23 digs for match-high honors. USC out-dug ASU, 67-46.
Freshman outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu had 11 kills (4e, 25att, .280) and collected eight digs and three blocks. Sophomore outside Samantha Bricio put up 10 kills (7e, 32att, .094) to go with nine digs and a pair of service aces. She now has 70 on the season and is just the fourth player in Pac-12 history to reach that mark in a single season.
In the middle, senior Alexis Olgard had six kills (0e) on eight swings for a .750 hitting percentage and led all players with five blocks. USC's setters shared the load as freshman Alice Pizzasegola dished out 22 assists and junior Hayley Crone had 19 to go with five digs.
