Volleyball set up for NCAA Tourney

Joshua Taylor’s Tigers are set to begin what hopes to be an extended stay in Omaha at the NCAA Tournament when they face South Dakota, the Summit League champion, in the first round today at 11am. You can check out all the action on ESPN3.

According to Eric Blum’s article in the Columbia Tribune, Missouri is the one of three SEC tourney teams, with Kentucky (no.2) and Florida (no.8). Should the Tigers defeat the Coyotes, they’ll face No. 9 Ohio State in the second round at 11am on Thursday. Mizzou has won at least one match in the NCAA Tourney in each of the past five seasons. They reached the Sweet 16 in 2016 and 2017.

Bennett Durando of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looked at Missouri’s scouting and preparation for the tournament. From the article:

“What I’ve seen is that in the tournament, it’s going to be who wants it more,” second-year Missouri coach Joshua Taylor said. “Every single match is just an absolute grind. We’re seeing that in the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments right now.”

As for their matchup, the Coyotes will present a tough test. From Briar Napier of the Missourian, South Dakota received an automatic bid by upsetting both UMKC and Denver in five-set thrillers.

They are led by outside hitter, Elizabeth Juhnke, The 6-footer was First Team All-Summit League, and averaged 4.19 kills per set, and had with at least 15 kills in each of her past seven matches. On the outside is Sami Slaughter, also a First Team All-Summit recipient, and middle blocker, Madison Harms, ALSO a member of the First Team. Setter Madison Jurgens, a Second Team All-Summit Second selection, joins them to make for a dangerous offense.

Want to know what it’s like in the bubble? Anna Dixon is here to take you behind the scenes.

Best of luck to the volleyball team today!!

On to the Links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• In Part Three of Nate (the Great)’s heavily researched argument on expanding The Playoff, this time looking at recruiting as an oligopoly.
• IN CASED YOU MISSED IT: Matt wrote a phenomenal piece on Amari Davis that you need to read if you haven’t already. Hell, read it again. .
• COMING UP: The player reviews continue. Next up, Mitchell Smith!

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More Links:

Football

• ESPN has put out their college football record simulations, and Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Mizzou has been projected to have a 7-5 record and is currently ranked No. 34 in their early power rankings.
• Connor O’Gara of Saturday Down South wrote about why Connor Bazelak’s Year 2 development is an under-the-radar SEC storyline worth your interest.

Hoops

• Amber Smith is doing well with the Leicester Riders in England.

• Out with the old, in with the new! Mizzou Hoops’ twitter has started showing off the skills of its new players.

• Joel Lorenzi of the Columbia Missourian wrote a great story about DuJuan Gordon’s hard-nosed mentality, which will fit right in in Columbia.
• Happy Trails to Mitchell Smith, who has hired an agent and hopes to join the professional ranks. According to Joel Lorenzi, his new agency mainly reps international players, but does count a few G League players among its clients.

Softball

• Man, I really hate losing to the chickenhawks. And according to Colin O’Brien, this is the first time they have beaten the Tigers in CoMo since 2005. If you’re interested in a recap, check out Ben Miglore’s article for the Missourian.

• Another week in the Top 20!

Other Mizzou Sports

• Matthew Newkirk of The Maneater wrote about how, after Andrea Fuentes earned back her starting spot, the redshirt junior goes into the NCAA tournament with something to prove.
• MUTigers.com has a preview for the volleyball matchup today.
• It’s SEC Tournament Week for women’s golf, who are in Birmingham after a two-week hiatus. The Tigers will face tough competition, as 9 of the teams rank in the Top 30. Accordingto MUTigers.com, the event includes three rounds of stroke play taking place from Wednesday to Friday, with the top eight teams advancing to match play on Saturday and Sunday.

• Mizzou Athletics keeps racking up the donations, according to MUTigers.com. This time, it’s a 1.1 million dollar one, good for “key department initiatives.” According to the release, he said:

The $1.1M gift will go toward key department initiatives, including Mizzou Football’s indoor practice facility, scholarship aid for all student-athletes and the Tiger Scholarship Fund. This marks the ninth seven- or eight-figure gift Mizzou Athletics has received during the current fiscal year.

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