Ainoah Cruz records season high in digs; Mizzou loses to No. 5 Louisville in 4 sets

Kalyssa Blackshear got things going instantly for Louisville, scoring six of Louisville's first seven points and forcing an early timeout from the Tigers. Blackshear finished with 20 kills on 40 attempts and a .425 hit percentage.

Louisville jumped out to a 10-4 lead in Set 1 before MU battled back to a one point match. Eva Smith used a pair of kills to cap a 4-0 Tiger run. Smith finished with six kills on 20 attempts as well as two blocks.

Louisville racked up 22 kills on 51 attempts in Set 1. It recorded a .353 hit percentage as a team and a .431 kill percentage. The Cardinals got up 24-18 and thought they'd cruise to a win, but Mizzou rattled three straight points to keep the set alive before ultimately losing the set 25-21.

Set 2 saw a lapse in focus for the Cardinals, as they had five attack errors, three service errors and two receiving errors. MU took full advantage of the Cardinals mistakes. 

The Tigers trailed 10-4, once again, for a brief moment before challenging a touch call and overturned the initial ruling. Moments later, Nina Mandovic served up an ace that started an 8-2 run as Mizzou jumped in front 12-11. Louisville continued to battle, but the errors ultimately squandered any chance for that. Larkin killed the set and Mizzou eventually drew even with Louisville 1-1.

Senior Chloe Chicoine came alive in Set 3. She killed seven balls in the first half of the set as the No. 5 Cardinals jumped out to a 15-3 lead, just a couple minutes after dropping their first set since Aug. 22. Chicoine picked up four more kills and reached 22 total in the match as Louisville won 25-15 in Set 3. 

Louisville cruised once again to a 25-17 win in Set 4. The AVCA National Player of the Week, Chloe Meester, closed out the match for Louisville as she killed five balls in the set and reached 14 in the match.

The Tigers fell to 0-2 against ranked opponents this season and 3-2 on the year. Mizzou, which was top 10 in the country before the match in hit percentage, finished .160 against the Cardinals.

Cruz established herself as a grounding point in the back row, digging out a season-high 27 balls. The senior transfer has recorded double-digit kills and seems to only be getting better and more comfortable as the season continues.

The Tigers were able to serve tough and at times get Louisville out of rotation recording four service aces and forcing multiple receiving errors. However, they couldn't command the net. Though it felt like Smith was getting her hands on every ball, Missouri tallied five blocks, three less than Louisville. 

Paige Felder led MU with 12 kills but recorded just a .127 hit percentage. Larkin and Grace O'Reilly were right behind Felder as the two recorded eight kills each.

MU hosts the Mizzou Tournament Friday through Sunday and opens with a match against Arkansas State, a team it dropped a match to last season while on the road. First serve is at 6 p.m. Friday at the Hearnes Center.