Volleyball struggles to finish sets at Missouri

Staff report

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UK Volleyball began the weekend with a win against the University of Arkansas on Friday in Fayetteville, Ark., but fell to No. 7 University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., on Sunday.

Undefeated Missouri remained perfect on Sunday after a sweep of the Cats, despite UK reaching 20 points in each of the three sets (21-25, 23-25, 22-25).

“It was disappointing to not extend the match and give us a chance to win,” Skinner said to UKAthletics. “We are not tough enough in those situations yet.”

Freshman outside hitter Anni Thomasson registered a career-high 15 kills in the match to lead the Cats.

With seven kills in the match, senior outside hitter Whitney Billings failed to reach double-digit kills for only the sixth time all season.

Missouri coach Wayne Kreklow won his 500th game as a head coach on Sunday and was asked to assess the accomplishment after the game.

“It is great to win 500,” Kreklow said to MUTigers.com.  “But for me it really just means that you have been doing this for a really long time.”

Missouri (27-0, 11-0 SEC) senior Lisa Henning entered the match on Sunday as the all-time kill-leader in Missouri history after notching 13 kills against the University of Mississippi on Friday.

The Cats defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 25-18) behind a defensive effort that saw them post a season-high 15 blocks for the second-consecutive game.

“I thought our defense was exceptional against a lot of very good arms,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said to UKAthletics.

Billings led UK with 16 kills and a .407 hitting percentage accompanied by nine digs, just one dig short of her 40th career double-double.

After notching a season-high 14 kills in the Cats previous game against her home-state University of Alabama, senior middle blocker Alexandra Morgan put together a second 14-kill match against Arkansas.

Skinner spoke praised junior defensive specialist Jackie Napper after the game as she posted her second match of the season in which she had 20+ digs.

“Jackie Napper had one of her best matches of the year and anchored our defensive effort,” Skinner said.

Arkansas (14-10, 7-6 SEC) will head to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the University of Alabama on Friday.

UK (16-6, 8-3 SEC) returns to Memorial Coliseum to face the University of South Carolina on Friday at 7 p.m.