Mizzou Volleyball Sweeps No. 17 Texas A&M in Historic Home Finale

The Missouri volleyball team gave its seniors a final home match to remember Sunday afternoon, sweeping No. 17 Texas A&M 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 at the Hearnes Center.

Fifth-year Kimani Johnson led the Tigers with 11 kills and a career-high seven total blocks.

The victory improved Mizzou to 15-10 overall and 8-5 in Southeastern Conference play. It marked the second time in program history that the Tigers have defeated a defending national champion, the first since topping Texas on Nov. 1, 2024. The win also marked the team’s first sweep of a ranked opponent since Oct. 23, 2023, at Auburn.

The Tigers bounced back after suffering a sweep against No. 13 Texas two days prior. I think it was just the overall energy and mindset of the team, freshman Eva Smith said. After that loss, everybody was pretty upset. It was a bad loss. So we used that and it pushed us to want to be more hungry to play this game and take care of business.

Johnson recorded a .526 hitting percentage with 11 kills on 19 attempts, while sophomore Paige Felder chipped in 10 kills, marking her 13th match with double-digit kills this season. Mizzou held the Aggies to a .214 hitting percentage. The Tigers built early momentum across the first two sets, backed by freshman Eva Smith’s defensive presence at the net and consecutive service aces from junior Nina Mandovic.

Texas A&M mounted a stronger offensive push in the third set, taking a 15-13 lead and later stretching it to 19-17. Johnson answered for Missouri, tying the score at 19 with a kill and a solo block before hammering three consecutive kills to put the Tigers ahead 22-20.

We have this saying on our team, like, we’re never going to be in gazelle mode. We’re going to be in lion mode, Johnson said. Nobody’s going to do our job for us. We have to go get this done ourselves, and we have to be hungry enough to go fight for what we want.

After the Aggies tied the set at 22, Mizzou responded out of a timeout. Felder delivered the final kill to seal the 25-23 set victory and complete the sweep. Head coach Dawn Sullivan praised the team’s resilience when matches grew tight.

With the home slate concluded, the Tigers will hit the road to face Oklahoma on Friday night at McCasland Field House. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+ as Mizzou looks to build on its late-season momentum.