For the first time in the 2017 season, the Alabama Crimson Tide volleyball team lost at home on Sunday afternoon. Missouri (10-7, 3-1 SEC) swept Alabama (12-5, 1-3 SEC) in straight sets, 17-25, 15-25 and 25-27.

Senior Leah Lawrence finished the match with four blocks, which took her over 400 blocks for her career. Lawrence is just the fourth player in program history to reach that mark. 

No Alabama players reached double-figures for the match. Meghan Neelon led Alabama with 22 assists. 

“I think as a whole, we didn’t come out very strong and we weren’t as ready as we should have been,” said senior Natalie Murison. “We talked a lot about listening to each other on the court and executing better on the court.”

In set one, Alabama took an early 5-4 lead, but Missouri would score the next three points and Alabama never regained the lead. 

Missouri’s scored three straight to take a 7-3 lead to force an early Alabama timeout. The Tigers would then expand the lead to 19-9 before winning the set by double-digits.

Alabama led for much of the third set, jumping ahead 18-14 late in the set. Missouri cut the Alabama lead to 20-19 before the Crimson Tide reached set point at 24-23. Alabama was not able to close out the Tigers, as they ended up winning the set 27-25 and the match 3-0.

“This will be a great learning experience,” Murison said. “Especially being up in that third set and not being able to finish, that’s something we can learn from.

Alabama will travel for two road SEC matches next weekend. The Crimson Tide will face No. 10 Kentucky on Friday at 6 p.m. and then face Tennessee on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.