Fingall’s kills swing Lady Vols to victory over Mizzou

COLUMBIA, Mo. – An all-around effort by No. 12 Tennessee led the Lady Vols to a 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-16, 25-19) victory on the road at Missouri on Wednesday night.

The Big Orange (17-3, 8-2 SEC) improved to 8-1 when playing on the road this season. The team was fueled by 60 digs, 51 kills and 12 blocks on the day. UT out hit the Tigers (13-8, 5-5 SEC) .213 to .121 to get the win. 

Graduate student right side Morgahn Fingall paced the offense with 17 kills to go along with seven digs, three blocks, one ace and one assist to cap off the all-around performance. Graduate student outside hitter Jenaisya Moore added 11 kills, five digs and three blocks of her own. Junior outside hitter Erykah Lovett finished with eight kills on .300 hitting to go with seven digs, two blocks and one ace.

Holding down the front line and enjoying solid offensive outings, the middle blocker duo of Raeven Chase and Keondreya Granberry made their presence felt all night. Granberry ended with seven kills and seven blocks, while Chase added seven kills and five blocks. Redshirt freshman setter Caroline Kerr chipped in three blocks to go along with 40 assists and 15 digs, recording her second double-double in a row and fourth of the season. Graduate student libero Yelianiz Torres rounded things out with 21 digs, four assists and an ace.

Both teams went back and forth to begin the match with nine ties during the first 20 points played. The Lady Vols would pull away, though, utilizing a 10-5 run to make it 19-15. The Tigers fought back to make it a one-point disadvantage at 24-23, but Missouri’s nine attacking errors and five serving errors in the period were too much to overcome. Tennessee had four blocks in the frame led by Granberry and Moore, who had three each. Fingall led the offense with five kills-three of which were UT’s final points of the set.

Just like the opening frame, the two squads swapped blows to begin the second period. After the fifth tie in the frame made it 8-8, the Tigers rattled off an 10-2 run to swing the momentum in its favor and claim the second period. Missouri outhit the Big Orange .314 to .105 in the set, as Tennessee had eight attacking errors to keep the offense from getting into a rhythm.

The Lady Vols responded in a big way to begin the third frame, opening with a 7-0 run. MU had a 5-0 run of its own, but Tennessee answered with an 8-2 swing of its own to extend its lead to 17-8. Fingall had six kills in the frame to fuel the offense. The Big Orange defense had 18 digs and four blocks in the period and held the Tigers to -.081 hitting.

Missouri scored the first point of the fourth set, and from there, it was all Tennessee. The Lady Vols used runs of 5-1 and 5-0 to jump out to a 15-9 advantage. The Big Orange hit .333 in the period to prevent the Tigers from coming back.

Up next, the Lady Vols return to Food City Center for a Sunday afternoon match against Texas A&M. The contest will begin at 2 p.m. and will be televised on SEC Network.