The Tigers will face Texas State in Dallas to open the postseason

For the second straight season, Mizzou Volleyball is postseason bound. The Tigers made the NCAA Tournament as a seven seed and will face the Texas State Bobcats in Dallas on Thursday.

The Bobcats are 22-8 this season and went 13-3 to win the Sun Belt conference title. Texas State was ranked 54th in the last RPI rankings, one spot behind Auburn, but were ranked one spot ahead of Ole Miss at 38th in the KPI.

When asked what she knows so far about the Bobcats, head coach Dawn Sullivan said, “I do know that they get a lot of kills on the pins, and one middle is pretty successful.”

The team has won 11 straight matches in Sun Belt play, a streak stretching back to October 19.

If Mizzou advances, the squad will face the winner of the matchup between the hosts, second seed SMU, and Wichita State.

“I’ve been following SMU throughout the season, I think they’re an incredible team,” Colleen Finney said, “I’ve seen people liken them to us a little bit: energetic, a little bit of a Cinderella story.”

The Mustangs have been known for their unpredictability this season, the only team to beat both Pitt and Nebraska. SMU also has losses to Hawaii, Loyola Marymount, and most recently NC State to close out the regular season. The hosts are ranked eighth in the RPI and ninth in the KPI.

“Any given night, it’s anybody’s win, right?”, said Sullivan when asked about SMU.

This will be a homecoming for several Mizzou players. Marina Crownover and Aspen Maxwell, alongside DFW-area natives Vivian Parker and Janet deMarrais, are all from the state of Texas.

“I think that’s really exciting to go see their families and have them come out and support us,” said newly re-crowned SEC Libero of the Year Maya Sands.

The Tigers picked up some impressive accolades earlier in the day as Sands was awarded Libero of the Year for the second straight season and Mychael Vernon was named SEC Newcomer of the Year.

Vernon, alongside Jordan Iliff and Sands, was also named All-SEC First Team. Marina Crownover was named All-SEC Second Team. Mizzou was the only team in the SEC to have three players named to the first team.

The Tigers enter the postseason with a 20-8 record and 11-5 in the SEC but lost three of their final five games in a late season slump. Those concerns were eased yesterday in a dominant sweep of Auburn, but the slide likely cost at least one spot in seeding.

Mizzou has four days to prepare for the biggest matches of its season. The Tigers will need to take down a top eight team to reach its goal of a Sweet Sixteen berth, but this team’s biggest win took place on the road in the Lone Star State against Texas.

“We just played with this fire and energy,” Iliff said, “and clearly we were in Texas, so maybe that’s our lucky state.”

Now, Sullivan’s squad will try to make that a reality twice in the same season.