Volleyball Splits Opening Day of Xavier Tournament

CINCINNATI – The University of Missouri Volleyball team (6-2) split the opening day of the 2023 Xavier Tournament Friday at the Cintas Center. 

After falling to Buffalo (7-0) in the morning session, Mizzou swept Bellarmine (2-5) in its afternoon match. 

Buffalo 3, Missouri 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-18)

The Tigers dropped their opener to undefeated Buffalo to commence the Xavier Tournament. 

Dilara Gedikoglu led Mizzou with eight kills while Naomi Franco added a season-best seven on a .267. Franco, a Syracuse transfer, tallied six kills in the final set Friday morning. 

FIRST SET (Buffalo 25-18, Buffalo leads 1-0)

Buffalo opened the match with an 8-2 lead.

A 5-0 Mizzou run trimmed the lead to 10-8 with Maya Sands putting the pressure on the Bulls in the service area. 

Buffalo then regrew its edge to 16-11 to prompt a Tigers timeout. 

The Bulls then scored four of the final five points to take the frame, 25-18. 

Colleen Finney paced Mizzou in the opening set with four kills on a .667 clip. 

SECOND SET (Buffalo 25-19, Buffalo leads 2-0)

The second set started tighter featuring early ties of 5-5, 8-8, and 10-10. The frame in total had five same score lines. 

A pair of kills by Gedikoglu cut the margin to 14-13 and then 15-14. The outside hitter from Alanya, Turkey, had five rally stoppers during set #2. 

A block assist by Jordan Iliff and Finney after an Iliff rally stopper made it a two-point Bulls lead (18-16). 

The Tigers would come as close as 22-19 down the stretch before Buffalo increased it edge to 2-0 after three unanswered points (25-19). 

THIRD SET (Buffalo 25-18, Buffalo wins 3-0)

The Bulls kept their foot on the gas, starting the final stanza up 7-2. 

A kill from Franco coupled with a Buffalo miscue cut the deficit to 16-12.

The Bulls answered with consecutive kills by Katrin Trebichavska and Stacia Gollogly to rewiden the gap to 20-13. 

A pair of Buffalo errors then made the score 23-18 before the Bulls secured the match, 25-18.

Buffalo hit .341 as a team Friday including .409 in the third set. 

MATCH NOTES

• Graduate student Dilara Gedikoglu led the offense with eight kills, eight digs and two assists.  
• Naomi Franco added a season-best seven kills (.267) with two digs. Franco recorded six of those seven kills in set #3 Friday.
• Sierra Dudley passed out 15 assists with six digs.
• Setter Sarah White, an Ohio State transfer, chipped in a season-best 12 assists with two digs (career high). She tallied nine in the third set. 
• Maya Sands compiled 10 digs with three service aces. 
• Madilyn Sell made her 2023 season debut, posting a kill in the third set. 
• The volleyball match between Buffalo and Missouri was the first in program history. 

Missouri 3, Bellarmine 0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-14)

After dropping their tournament opener, the Tigers bested Bellarmine behind a 3-0 sweep to conclude the first day at the Xavier Tournament with a mark of 1-1. 

Jordan Iliff paced the Mizzou attack with 13 kills on a .290 hitting percentage. 

Morgan Isenberg (.462 and six blocks) and Janet deMarrais (.429) each chipped in seven kills against Bellarmine. Kimani Johnson added six kills on a .333 clip with two blocks and two digs.  

FIRST SET (Missouri 25-17, Missouri leads 1-0)

Mizzou jumped out to a 4-1 edge after consecutive kills from Isenberg. She had five (.571) of her seven total kills during the opening set. 

A 6-1 Tigers swing punctuated by a Maya Sands ace increased the lead to 10-4.

Back-to-back rally stoppers from deMarrais and Dilara Gedikoglu pushed the margin to 20-14 as Mizzou would claim the set on a 4-1 run (25-17).

Missouri hit a match-best .333 to finish with a team hitting percentage of .257 against Bellarmine. 

SECOND SET (Missouri 25-20, Missouri leads 2-0)

In the second frame, the Knights commenced with an early 4-1 edge. 

The Tigers responded with a 5-0 rally to pull ahead 10-6 and prompt a Bellarmine timeout. 

The Knights then utilized an 8-1 run to shift the tables in favor of Bellarmine, 17-13. 

Mizzou was unfazed and claimed the match with nine of the final 10 points to increase the Tiger lead in the match to 2-0. 

Gedikoglu had a pair of aces during a 6-0 sequence when the Tigers jumped ahead 22-19. Isenberg then blasted a kill before back-to-back Sands aces to secure the set, 25-20.

THIRD SET (Missouri 25-14, Missouri won 3-0)

The third frame was a dominating affair by the Tigers behind a .325 hitting percentage. 

A 6-0 run by Mizzou provided an 8-2 lead that grew to 16-5 after another six-spot by Missouri. 

Iliff connected on a kill to widen the gap to 20-9. She had seven kills during the final set on a .500 percentage. 

Kaylen Rush added a service ace to make the score 23-12 before a Knights service error wrapped the match at 25-14. 

MATCH NOTES

• Jordan Iliff paced the Mizzou attack with 13 kills on a .290 hitting percentage including seven (.500) in the final set. 

• Morgan Isenberg (.462 and six blocks) and Janet deMarrais (.429) each chipped in seven kills. 
• Kimani Johnson added six kills on a .333 clip with two blocks and two digs.  
• Freshman setter Sierra Dudley compiled 31 assists and eight digs with three kills and an ace. It marked her fourth career 30-plus assist match. 
• Defensive specialist Lauren Forbes grabbed a match-high and career-best 18 digs. 
• Libero Maya Sands tallied 15 digs, five assists and three aces. She has now registered three aces on four occasions in 2023. 
• The 3-0 sweep was the third of the season for Mizzou. 
• The volleyball match between Bellarmine and Missouri was the first in program history. 

UP NEXT 

• Mizzou next concludes the 2023 Xavier Tournament Saturday. The Tigers will wrap the tournament against host, Xavier, Saturday at 11 a.m., CT with the match streamed live on FloVolleyball. 

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