Volleyball's Historic Season Ends In Defeat To No. 8 Missouri In NCAA Tournament

Friday, December 1

Lincoln, Neb.

5:30 PM EST // 4:30 PM CST

University of Delaware

24-5,15-3CAA

No. 8 Missouri

18-12,9-9SEC

Delaware

Missouri

Photo by: Michael Riccio

Volleyball's Historic Season Ends In Defeat To No. 8 Missouri In NCAA Tournament

12/1/2023 8:12:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

LINCOLN, Neb. - University of Delaware volleyball had their season come to a close with a 3-0 (17-25, 22-25, 23-25) loss to No. 8 Missouri on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 at Bob Devaney Sports Center. Delaware ends the season with a record of 24-5, their second-best winning percentage (.828) in program history.

HEN HIGHLIGHTS

Savannah Seemans recorded seven kills, hit .467, picked up nine digs, and recorded four aces.
Lani Mason had a team-high 10kills and recorded nine digs.
Madelyn Grunza recorded six kills.
Kirah Johnson recorded three kills and five blocks.
Ezgi Basaranlar had 19 assists.
Gha'Naye Whitfield-Moss had four kills.
Eileen Gex had six digs.
Lily Rogers had eight assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST SET

Delaware was able to cut into Missouri's lead early in the first set to bring the score to 8-7. Missouri kept chipping away and went up 17-12 and eventually 22-14.
Seemans had a kill and an ace in consecutive rallies, but Missouri took a 1-0 lead.
Delaware had multiple kills from Mason, Johnson, Grunza, and Seemans, and Basaranlar had seven assists.

SECOND SET

Missouri took an early 8-4 lead, but a 3-0 spurt by Delaware, powered by block assists by Whitfield-Moss and Seemans and a kill by Whitfield-Moss helped Delaware gain momentum.
Block assists by Johnson and Basaranlar capped another 3-0 run to make the score 13-11. Whitfield-Moss had two more kills during a stretch where Delaware scored three straight points to help cut the Missouri lead to 20-18. A fourth 3-0 run by Delaware, capped by block assists from Anna Logan Gillens and Johnson brought the lead to 23-22. Missouri scored the final two points to go up 2-0.
Mason had four kills in the set, while Whitfield-Moss added three.

THIRD SET

The third set featured eight ties and two lead changes, the most of any of the sets. Missouri went up early again, 6-2, but Delaware cut the lead to one after kills by Mason and Grunza and block assists by Grunza and Johnson.
Missouri went back up 9-5, but Delaware used a 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead and went up 13-11. Seemans had two aces and a kill during the run, while Grunza picked up two kills. Seemans and Mason picked up kills each to give Delaware a 19-16 lead. Missouri scored the next four points to go back ahead. Delaware re-tied the game at 20, but Missouri went back up and held the lead for the remainder of the set and match.
Mason and Grunza had four kills in the third set, while Seemans had three kills. Basaranlar had eight assists.

GAME NOTES

Mason finished her career with 1,558 career kills.
Basaranlar finished her career with 3,946 assists.
Seemans reached 1,000 career digs during the match, and currently sits at 1,003.
Delaware's winning percentage of .828 is their second-best mark in program history, bested only by their .861% and 31-5 mark in 2007.

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