COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Wayne Kreklow won his 500th match as a head coach on Sunday as No. 7 Missouri swept No. 19 Kentucky 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22), as it improved to a national-best 27-0 and an SEC-best 11-0. The match was played in front of 3,925 fans at the Hearnes Center, Mizzou's fifth consecutive match with at least 3,000 fans in attendance.
The win also gives Mizzou 27 on the season, the most by a Kreklow-led team at Mizzou, topping the previous best of 26-8 in 2002. The win is the first time Mizzou has beaten Kentucky in program history and Mizzou's second against a top-20 team this season.
Junior All-SEC middle blocker Whitney Little led Mizzou with 11 kills on .588 hitting as Kentucky struggled to slow Mizzou's middles. Freshman Emily Thater also added seven kills on .500 hitting with six blocks in the win and classmate Julia Towler added two kills on two swings with a pair of blocks. In all, the Tiger middle hitters combined for 20 kills on .613 hitting with 13 blocks in the win.
Aside from the Tiger middles, senior and two-time All-American Lisa Henning finished with 11 kills and eight digs and senior setter Molly Kreklow continued to prove why she is one of the top setters in the nation with 39 assists while guiding Mizzou to .350 hitting. She also tallied five kills on eight attempts and collected seven digs. In all, Kentucky came into Sunday's contest limiting the opposition to .182 hitting and the Tigers hit .350. It is the 23rd time in 27 matches that Mizzou has hit .300 or better this season.
No. 3 Washington 3, Colorado 0
SEATTLE – An efficient Husky attack rolled past Colorado on Sunday afternoon in Alaska Airlines Arena.Third-ranked Washington (19-1, 11-1 Pac-12) avenged its only loss of the season with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-19 victory in front of 2,880 fans.
In the previous meeting in Boulder, the Huskies lost 3-1. Colorado (15-7, 7-5 Pac-12) has proven tough to beat at home, going 5-0 at home in conference play, and came into Sunday’s match in sole possession of fourth in the Pac-12. But Washington was on point, especially in the first two sets when the Huskies hit .412 and then .478. Despite cooling off in the third set, UW still hit .299 for the match, and held Colorado to just .118.
Washington had a big edge in kills, 41-32, and racked up eight service aces to just three for Colorado. UW also won the blocking battle, 9.0-4.0 while Colorado had one more dig, 45-44. Junior Kaleigh Nelson followed her career-high 20-kill effort from Friday’s win against Utah with a team-leading 13 kills on Sunday, and junior Krista Vansant had a double-double with 10 kills and a team-best 12 digs, while also serving up three aces. The Husky middles, Lianna Sybeldon and Melanie Wade, each had six kills without an error to combine for a .545 attack percentage, and Sybeldon had seven blocks. Jenni Nogueras and Katy Beals paced the offense with 21 and 13 assists, respectively.
No. 5 Florida 3, Texas A&M 2
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The lead changed in the game 14 times and the score was tied 36 times but fifth-ranked Florida pulled out a five-set victory against Texas A&M (24-26, 25-23, 25-8, 24-6, 16-14).
With the win Florida moves to 22-2 overall and TAMU drops to 11-10 in regular-season play.
Florida was led by Chloe Mann who scored 22 kills during the game. Alex Holston notched 21 kills for the Gators.
Shleby Sullivan led TAMU in kills with 15.
