Not a ton going on around Mizzou sports this week, but let’s take a look at everything that did happen.
Football
First, here’s my game story and my column from Saturday’s game against Mississippi State.
Now let’s move on.
Men's Basketball
Here is my story from Friday’s game against Pacific and my story from Sunday’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Moving on.
Women's basketball
Here’s my story from Wednesday’s game against Saint Louis and my story from Friday’s game against Little Rock.
Moving on to the sports and games I didn’t cover.
Volleyball
After the volleyball team’s long win streak ended against Florida, the Tigers were on the ropes looking like they would drop a second consecutive match.
No. 25 Missouri fell behind 2-1 to Ole Miss on Friday, but came back to win, 25-19, 21-25, 16-25, 25-16, 15-11 to get back in the win column.
With the win, Missouri has double-digit SEC wins for the first time since 2020 and the Tigers (10-6, 10-3 SEC) are in fourth in the conference standings behind Kentucky (12-2), Florida (11-3) and Texas (11-3).
Mychael Vernon led the Tigers with 18 kills and 12 digs for her 12th double-double, one of four double-doubles the Tigers had Friday. That was the second time this season Missouri had four double-doubles in a match, with the first coming against Mississippi State on October 20.
Jordan Iliff added 16 points and 14 digs to go with three blocks and a career-high three assists for her 12 double-double as well.
Marina Crownover had 22 assists and 13 digs, while Sierra Dudley added 18 assists and 10 digs. Crownover has nine double-doubles this season, and Dudley, a 2023 SEC All-Freshman team selection, has two.
Janet deMarrais added 14 kills and two blocks, while Maya Sands had 24 digs and six assists.
Kiaraliz Perez Catala had 10 digs and a stretch of three consecutive aces in the opening set. Three aces is a new career high for Perez Catala.
The Tigers then dropped their second of their past three matches 25-19, 20-25, 22-25, 24-26 to Mississippi State on Sunday.
Vernon had 15 kills, while Iliff had 14 and Colleen Finney had 12. Vernon added 14 digs, while Iliff had 12 digs, two aces and two blocks.
Vernon is 12 kills shy of 1,500 for her career.
Regan Haith recorded five blocks, while Crownover dished out 46 assists and Sands recorded 21 digs.
The Tigers (19-7, 10-4 SEC) will wrap up the regular season with home matches No. 12 Kentucky on Wednesday and Auburn on Saturday.
Wrestling
It’s been a tough start to the season for the No. 9 Tigers (1-2) after they dropped a 23-14 dual at No. 16 Illinois (4-0).
The Tigers won 4-of-10 matches, but only got bonus points in two.
Gage Walker open the dual with his first dual victory, beating Caelen Riley by 13-1 major decision at 125.
No. 18 141-pounder Josh Edmond added an 8-7 decision against No. 15 Danny Pucino, while No. 1 174-pounder Keegan O’Toole beat No. 16 Danny Braunagel by 16-7 major decision. O’Toole continued his stretch of bonus points in every match this season with his smallest victory coming by eight points.
The Tigers’ final win came from Aeoden Sinclair, who beat No. 10 197-pounder Zac Braunagel by a 16-10 decision. It was Sinclair’s first career upset.
No. 30 133-pounder Kade Moore dropped a 17-4 major decision against No. 2 Lucas Byrd, No. 24 149-pounder Logan Gioffre dropped a 20-7 major decision against No. 10 Kannon Webster and James Conway lost by 9-3 decision against No. 20 157-pounder Jason Kraisser.
No. 15 165-pounder Cam Steed lost by injury default against No. 24 Braeden Scoles, while Logan Cole lost by 10-3 decision against No. 9 184-pounder Edmond Ruth.
No. 21 heavyweight Seth Nitzel dropped a 4-3 decision against No. 10 Luke Luffman.
All rankings are from InterMat Individual rankings.
Mizzou has a losing record in duals for the first time since the 2019-20 season when the Tigers opened 0-2 with losses against Virginia Tech and Illinois.
Missouri will go to Hartland, Wisconsin to face No. 14 Northern Iowa on Tuesday, with the dual at Arrowhead High School, where O’Toole graduated from.
Swim and dive
The Tiger swim and dive teams went to the Georgia Invitational and competed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Both the Tiger men and women finished fifth in the three-day event.
On Day 1, the Tigers had 21 swimmers and three divers advance through preliminary competitions to move on to event finals.
John Watson placed in the 200-meter A final with a time of 1:46.09, while freshman Luke Nebrich also advanced to the A final in the 50-meter freestyle.
The men’s 200-meter free relay team hit a NCAA B-cut qualifying standard as Nebrich, Grant Bochenski, Francois Malherbe and Darden Tate placed fourth in 1:16.98.
Mejan Jolly earned her highest score of the season with a 297.45 in the women’s 3-meter diving, taking four place, while Gabriela San Juan Carmona scored 289.2. Collier Dyer recorded a score of 319.55 in the men’s 1-meter diving.
On Day 2, 35 Tiger swimmers and three divers advanced to Friday’s finals, while Mizzou had three swimmers earn spots on the podium.
Bochenski placed second in the men’s 100-meter backstroke with a time of 45.66, while Jan Zubik earned bronze in the men’s 100-meter fly with a time of 45.99.
Bochenski and Zubik both teamed with Logan Ottke and Nebrich in the men’s 200-medley relay for a third-place finish in 1:24.19.
Dyer placed second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 373.8.
Karolina Bank placed fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 59.97 seconds, while Paige Striley took fifth in the 100-meter fly with a time of 52.62.
Jolly took fifth in the women’s 1-meter dive with a score of 265.2.
Alex Ochsenbein advances to the men’s 100-meter breaststroke final, taking fifth in 52.6 seconds.
On Day 3, the Tigers had six divers end in the top-10 of their events.
Freshman Derek Colbert earned his first finish on the podium, taking second in men’s platform diving with a score of 356.75, while Tommaso Zannella and Dyer took fourth and fifth, respectively, with scores of 336.2 and 336.0.
Freshman Mia Henninger added a career-best performance of fourth in the women’s platform competition with a score of 240.65.
The Tigers had 24 swimmers in the finals on Friday, including five in the A-competition finals.
Zara Zallen led the way, taking third in the women’s 100-meter freestyle at 48.58 seconds.
The Tiger women’s 400-meter free relay team of Zallen, Francesca Smith, Katie Kuehn and Sierra Smith took fifth in 3:15.93.
Zubik earned his second bronze of the invite, swimming the men’s 200-meter fly in 1:41.65, while Ochsenbein took fourth in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke in 1:54.95, reaching the podium again.
The Tiger men scored 524 team points for fifth. Florida led the way at 1,157.5, Georgia took second at 796, Alabama finished third at 649.5 and LSU took fourth at 593.
Missouri’s women’s team scored 492.5 for fifth. Florida won the women’s team competition as well, scoring 1,156.5, while Georgia took second at 784.5, Alabama placed third at 669 and LSU took fourth at 574.
Mizzou swimming will next compete in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the Toyota U.S. Open on Dec. 4-7. The diving teams will compete at the USA Diving Winter National in Bloomington, Indiana, on Dec. 7-15.
Softball
The Tiger softball team announced its full 2025 schedule Monday.
Missouri will host 22 games in a 56-game season.
There will be 20 NCAA Regional teams from 2024 on the schedule, including four-time reigning National Champion Oklahoma, runner-up Texas and Women’s College World Series participants Oklahoma State, UCLA, Duke and Alabama.
The Tigers will open the season on the road at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic from Feb. 6-9 in Clearwater, Florida.
Missouri will play UCF in Orlando on Feb. 11 before a second tournament in Clearwater as the Tigers take to the Shriners Children’s Clearwater invitational from Feb. 13-15.
The Tigers will then cross the country for the Mary Nutter Collegitate Classic in Cathedral City, California, from Feb. 20-22.
Missouri will play in the Wichita State Shocker Invite from Feb. 27-through-March 2 facing Oklahoma State, Wichita State, South Dakota State and Nebraska (twice).
The Tiger home opener will be against Kansas City on March 5, then SEC play will begin with a series at Kentucky from March 7-9.
The Tigers will have eight three-game series with the first home SEC series being against Oklahoma from March 21-23.
Mizzou will also host SEC series against Texas (April 4-6), Texas A&M (April 17-19) and Georgia (May 1-3).
The Tigers will host the Mizzou Invitational from March 13-15 against South Dakota State, Princeton, Michigan and Quinnipiac.
Missouri will play Illinois in a Braggin’ Rights doubleheader on March 18.
Other midweek matchups for Mizzou this year will be Kansas (March 26), Missouri State (April 2 in Springfield), Southern Illinois (April 9) and SIUE (April 15).
Postseason play beings May 6 for the SEC Tournament in Athens, Georgia. NCAA Regionals are schedule for May 15-18, the Super Regionals are May 22-25 and the Women’s College World Series will be May 29 through June 6.
Head over to the story thread to discuss all the Tiger events from last week or go to the Tiger Walk to talk about so much more.
You can follow me on X @kyle_mcareavy for even more of my thoughts and updates.
