Here’s your weekly look around all the Mizzou athletics that don’t get as much coverage and some links to those that do.
Football
Let’s start with my game story here and my column here from the Tigers win against Oklahoma as the old Big 8 and Big 12 rivals revived their series.
Men's basketball
The men’s basketball team kicked off its season with a loss at Memphis. My game story can be found here and my column can be found here.
Then the team returned home to win its first game since Dec. 30, 2023 as the Tigers beat Howard. My game story can be found here. And check here for a look at the rotations and how they played together.
Women's basketball
The women’s team also kicked off the year with a loss at Vermont. My game story is here.
Then the team returned home to beat Southern, my story for which can be found here.
The team then lost Norfolk State at Mizzou Arena on Sunday. Here is that game story.
Now let’s get to the teams I didn’t get to go see this week. Definitely a calmer week now that the fall sports are mostly done.
Volleyball
The Tiger volleyball team won its eighth consecutive match Wednesday when it beat Georgia 25-18, 25-12, 26-28, 25-17.
It was also the Tigers’ seventh consecutive SEC win, keeping them in a tie with Kentucky at the top of the standings.
Mychael Vernon led Missouri with 20 kills to go with five digs, two assists, two blocks and an ace. It was the sixth consecutive match Vernon recorded 16 or more kill and her fifth 20+ kill match this season.
Jordan Iliff added 18 kills and 12 digs to go with two aces, a block and an assist. Iliff surpassed 500 career digs Wednesday. She also recorded her 11th double-double.
Janet deMarrais added 11 kills, while Colleen Finney had 10. Regan Haith had seven kills and five blocks.
Marina Crownover dished out 57 assists, recorded seven digs, two kills and an ace.
Maya Sands led the team with 18 digs.
The Tigers then kept winning on Sunday when they beat South Carolina 25-23, 25-13, 25-18.
Because Kentucky won both Friday and Sunday, the Wildcats retook the lead in the SEC standings at 10-2 in conference with Missouri at 9-2. If both teams hold, the standings will come down to a matchup at the Hernes Center on Nov. 27.
Vernon led the Tigers with 14 kills, eight digs, two blocks and an ace, while deMarrais had 12 kills and four blocks.
Crownover finished with 37 assists, five digs and a block. She leads the SEC with 12.14 assists per set.
Finney matched a career-best with seven blocks to go with six kills, Sands led the team with 16 digs.
The Tigers had a season-high 11.5 blocks.
Missouri is on its longest win streak since 2016 and longest SEC win streak since 2013. Fans packed the Hearnes Center on Sunday with a season-best 3,841 showing up to support as the Tigers moved to 9-0 at home this year.
Fans will get another chance to support when Missouri (18-5, 9-3 SEC) hosts Florida at 7 p.m. Friday.
Wrestling
The Tiger wrestling team hosted the Tiger Style Invite in Kansas City on Saturday, taking first as a team with 168.5 points and four weight titles.
Senior Keegan O’Toole won his third invite title, matching his 2023 showing with a technical fall in the 174-pound championship match. O’Toole won by fall in the first round, then won by 22-5, 19-0 and 21-4 technical falls in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, respectively. O’Toole beat Purdue’s Brody Baumann in the championship. Just a dominant performance for the two-time national champion.
Sophomore Cam Steed won by fall in the finals to take first at 165. Steed won by Technical fall in the quarterfinals, then by 17-5 major decision in the semifinals before pinning Cal Poly’s Luka Wick in 40 seconds in the championship.
Junior Josh Edmond improved from a second-place finish in last year’s tournament to win the 141-pound championship.
Emond won by technical fall in the quarterfinals, by a 7-2 decision in the semifinals, then he beat Purdue’s Greyson Clark by 7-4 decision in the championship.
Junior Colton Hawks also improved from last year’s silver to gold this year when he won by fall in the quarterfinals, by 11-1 major decision in the semifinals and by 2-1 decision against Little Rock’s Brock Delsignore in the championship. Hawks faced grapplers from Little Rock in all three matches.
Logan Gioffre took second at 149, as did Seth Nitzel at 285.
Taking third for the Tigers were Gage Walker (125), Jake Crapps (133), Easton Hilton (141) and Zeke Seltzer (149).
In fourth were, Kade Moore (133) and James Conway (157), while Trey Crawford (133), Logan Cole (174) and Jarrett Stoner (285) all took fifth.
Lugman Masud (125), Carter McCallister (149), Joel Mylin (157) and Tommy Hagan (184) all took sixth, while Jesse Cassatt (197) took seventh and Jake Sttoffel (174) finished eighth.
Mack Mauger (125), Jace Roller (141) and Kolten Oborny (165) did not place.
The Tigers will hit the road to face No. 8 Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. Friday.
That’s it for this week’s Missouri athletics. Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss all the outcomes and so much more.
