Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners gave the fourth ranked Central Missouri Jennies all it wanted and then some in the first three sets before running out of gas in the fourth set in a 3-1 (19-25, 21-25, 25-23 and 13-25) loss on Tuesday evening at the Bullman Multipurpose Building. It was only the sixth time this season that UCM has played more than three sets in its first 26 matches.

The Jennies (23-3) got off to a quick start in the opening set scoring the first three points; before the Lady Miners (8-18) recovered by running off six of the next seven points to take a 6-4 lead. Their lead grew to 9-6 before the Jens rattled off three straight points to tie it at 9 all. S&T scored the next two points on back-to-back kills by Jennifer Costello and Kit Spears to take an 11-9 advantage.

Central Missouri stormed back with a 6-2 run to retake the lead for good in the set. The set would remain close until 19-18 when the Jennies closed out the set on a 6-1 run behind five kills from Paula Harris along the way to win it 25-19.

UCM recorded 19 kills in the set and hit .356 while the Lady Miners had 12 kills and committed only two errors for a .244 hitting percentage.

The second set saw 13 ties and eight lead changes as neither side had more than a two point through the first 36 points. The Jens took a 20-18 lead on a kill by Harris before she gave the point back on an attack error. They extended the lead to 23-19 on a kill by Caitlin Pankratz and a pair of attack errors on the Lady Miners. After an attack error by Bradye Peniston made it 23-20, S&T committed a service error to set up match point at 24-20. Samantha Klump kept the Lady Miners alive with a kill, but couldn't get any closer as Allie Huffman ended the second set with a kill giving the Jens a 25-21 victory.

The Lady Miners fell behind early in the third set giving up the first two points but quickly responded with a 4-2 surge to tie it up at 4 all. S&T took its first lead of the set at 7-6 on a kill by Erin Bekebrede. After a service error by Danielle Kracl (Omaha, Neb./Burke) tied it back up at 7-7, the Lady Miners then proceeded to go on a 7-3 run getting kills from Bekebrede, Julie Meyer and Katie Herington while taking advantage of four errors by Central Missouri.

The Jens got as close as 14-13 before S&T responded with three straight points to push the advantage back to four. UCM came back to tie the set at 20-20 on a kill by Abby Gruenbacher, but the Lady Miners wouldn't be denied running off four of the next six points to set up set point at 24-22 on a kill by Bekebrede. Harris knocked home a kill to make it 24-23 before Klump slammed one to the ground for the 25-23 set victory forcing the fourth set.

S&T outhit the Jennies by a .152-to-.089 advantage in the frame and recorded three more kills than UCM did.

The fourth set was all Central Missouri as it ran out to an early 4-0 lead before the Lady Miners were able to get to within 6-5. The Jennies though answered with a 6-0 run behind the play of Gruenbacher's two kills and four errors by S&T to make it 12-5. That lead eventually grew to 20-8 before the Lady Miners made a little run to get within 24-13 but Gruenbacher ended the match with her eighth kill of the night for the final margin of 25-13.

S&T struggled in the fourth set committing 11 errors in the frame while the Jennies hit .303 and had 14 kills.

Meyer and Bekebrede finished in double figures with 14 and 12 kills respectively while Bridget Williams recorded a match-high 27 digs. Meyer also finished with her team leading 12^th double-double of the season with her 14 digs.

Harris had a match-high 15 kills and was joined in double figures by Huffman with 12 kills and Peniston with 10. Pankratz finished with 45 set assists and Kelsey Ortwerth had 20 digs.

The Lady Miners return to action this weekend when they head up to Lansing, Michigan to take part in the second annual GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament. S&T will play one game on Friday against Ashland (Ohio) beginning at 3 p.m. (CST) and two more on Saturday against Ohio Dominican at 9 a.m. (CST) and Lake Superior State (Mich.) at 4:30 p.m. (CST).