Mizzou volleyball searches for win against red-hot No. 5 Florida

Alhough the Tigers dropped both of their matches, they kept things close on the stat sheet in both matches.

Against LSU, Missouri hit at a more efficient rate than their opponents with a .244 hit percentage to LSU's .203. But they recorded one less kill than LSU's 63.

Against Ole Miss, Missouri recorded 45 kills to the Rebels' 47. The Tigers hit .212 while Ole Miss finished with a rate of .216. The defensive numbers were in favor of Ole Miss, with nine blocks to the Tigers' five plus winning the digs battle 51 to 41.  

But Missouri's biggest fault in a relatively close was falling flat behind the service line. They recorded 22 service errors – by far the most they've had in a match this season – and notched just four aces. 

"(It) literally probably lost the game for us," Mizzou volleyball coach Dawn Sullivan said. "The fact that we served that many out of bounds and we were still in it is kind of crazy to me."

Sullivan has mentioned multiple times this season as one of her keys for a win is to 'serve tough', which she felt her team still got Ole Miss out of system enough when the ball was in play.

"It was enough that we could take their middle out of it, which is what we needed to do," Sullivan said. "It was too many (errors)."

She says it's about mindset and that the team know that they can serve.

"It's not hard," Sullivan said. "It's just how do you keep the mind and the focus in the right space."

The team cleaned things up against LSU with nine service errors in that match, much closer to Missouri's average of 8.5. Sullivan thought her team did a much better job, not just keeping the ball in play but getting LSU out of system more often.

MU still couldn't find the win as it failed to win in five sets for the third time this season.

Florida (12-1, 3-0) continued its 10-game win streak with a 3-2 win over then-No. 3 Kentucky to pick up its fourth win against a ranked opponent this season.

Florida's dominance so far hasn't come from a couple of individuals, but more so an efficient high-powered offensive and frustrating defensive game plan to run through teams.

The Gators have held their opponents to a .158 hitting percentage while hitting at a .291 percentage. The last time Missouri faced an opponent that was allowing less than a .200 hitting percentage to opponents, it hit .020 against No. 1 Nebraska.

A more physical and balanced opponent, Sullivan once again mentioned the need to serve tough against a team with tough middle blockers.

"We have to take somebody off, so we have the ability to slow other people down," Sullivan said.

Missouri will have to play clean against Florida if it wants any hope of slowing the Gators down. First serve is at 7 p.m. Friday at the Hearnes Center.