Trailing 9-1 to No. 25 Missouri in Game Five, Horejsi Center was silent. So were the Kansas hitters. The Jayhawks were defeated, finished, cooked.

Or so it seemed.

Point by point they picked their way back. Josi Lima thumped two kills, and Ashley Michaels added an ace as part of a 9-2 run that pulled Kansas within 11-10. Then Mizzou scored two straight. An MU hitting error started the Jayhawks’ final kick.

Michaels whacked a kill, then combined with Sarah Rome and Jordan Garrison on back-to-back blocks. A kill by Rome — who smiled as she swung — ended it. Match to Kansas (29-31, 30-23, 30-26, 22-30, 15-13).

“I wanted that one bad,” Rome said of crushing the final point of the 2-hour, 18-minute battle. “‘I’m a senior, I’m putting this ball away and we are beating Missouri,’ that’s all that was running through my mind.”

It was a rally so dazzling that the eruption of fans nearly spilled onto the court. In five years of wild finishes at Horejsi Center, this may have been the craziest.

It also may be the biggest. The Jayhawks (15-7 overall, 7-6 Big 12 Conference) improved to 5-6 in five-game matches this season, exacted revenge for a five-game loss at Missouri earlier this season, and remained in the NCAA Tournament hunt with seven matches left.

“It’s do or die now,” Rome said. “It’s November, so we have to do this. Everything has to click from here on out. The tournament is in our sights and we can go, but we’ve gotta turn it on.”

There never was a sign of folding. Never a look of fear or uncertainty when things went bad, although Michaels admitted to whispers of “here we go again” on the bench as Game Four slipped away and Game Five loomed.

“You’ve just gotta turn your thinking around, and that’s just part of the game because volleyball’s such a mental game,” Michaels said. “That’s what we did. Everybody group-wise just turned it around.”

Kansas was fired up enough for the match, thanks to a pregame pep talk from men’s basketball coach Bill Self. Still, the Tigers persevered through 16 ties in Game One and escaped with a 31-29 victory behind six kills from freshman Jessica Vander Kooi. Rome offered 11 of her career-high 31 digs in Game Two, while Michaels and Lima combined for 11 kills as Kansas evened the match at a game apiece.

Missouri (16-6, 9-4) sprung to a quick 3-0 lead in Game Three, but six kills by Lindsey Morris and five more from Lima got things turned around. The Tigers led by as many as eight in Game Four and kept Kansas at bay thanks to eight kills from Shen Danru. That forced the magical Game Five.

Lisa Boyd pounded five kills as Missouri opened the 9-1 lead. Then the rally began.

¢ 6Sports video: KU volleyball defeats the Tigers

“I said, ‘If you make them earn these last six points — nothing free, really make them earn ’em — then we’ll have a chance,” said sixth-year coach Ray Bechard. “We didn’t give ’em any free stuff. We made some plays. I think everybody contributed in that Game Five somehow.

“I can’t describe how huge that win is,” Bechard said. “I think that’s going to breathe a big, big fresh air into what we’re trying to do and what we’re believing in.”

Vander Kooi led Missouri with 22 kills and Danru added 19. Lima paced Kansas with 22 kills, while Michaels added 17, Rome 16 and Morris 12.