By: Luke Rinne, Assistant Sports Information Director
Box Score
Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners got off to a quick start and never looked back in knocking off the Harding Bison,
3-1 on Tuesday evening in front 600 roaring fans at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.
S&T (2-3) got off to a good start in the opening set running off the first five points to start the match. The Bison (3-2) cut the lead to 5-3, but the Lady Miners responded by taking advantage of a service error by Harding and back-to-back service aces from Danielle Kracl (Omaha, Neb./Burke) to extend the lead back to five. The Bison would not get closer than three points the rest of the set as S&T built its largest lead of the set at 20-11. Samantha Klump (Ash Grove, Mo./Homeschooled) had seven kills in the frame while Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) finished with three. Katie Herington (Kalona, Iowa/Mid-Prairie) had a pair of kills as well. The Lady Miners outhit the Bison by a .417-to-.160 percentage in the set.
The two sides exchanged points to open the second set before Harding went on a 9-3 run to take control of the set early. Its lead grew to as many as eight points at 17-9 before S&T began to chip away. It cut the lead all the way down to 21-20 before the Bison surged back ahead 24-20. The Lady Miners continued to battle back staving off three straight set points, but couldn't stave off a fourth as Harding evened the match at 1-1.
The third set had three ties and two lead changes to start the set before S&T once again began to pull away with a 5-1 run. Harding crept back into the set taking advantage of three straight errors by the Lady Miners; but S&T quickly ran off four straight points to extend the lead back to five. The Bison would again cut the deficit to a pair but an 8-1 run by S&T set up set point for the Lady Miners. Harding scored three straight to stay alive but Klump stuffed Sarah Phipps on the fourth set point to end the set and give S&T a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set was just as entertaining with eight ties and seven lead changes in the first 20 points of the set. Harding held a 10-9 advantage before Meyer sparked an S&T rally by recording four kills as the Lady Miners ran off nine of the next 10 points to take a commanding 18-11 lead. The Bison would get as close as 21-18 but Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) got a kill and a service ace back-to-back to push the lead back to five. Harding was able to stave off one match point but not another as Meyer finished the match off with her 17th kill of the night.
For the match S&T outhit Harding by a .213-to-120 margin and recorded 54 kills in 155 chances. The Lady Miners had 49 set assists in the match led by Kracl with 24. They had three players reach double figures in digs led by Bridget Williams (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) with 17. Jennifer Kegler (Ballwin, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) contributed 15 while Meyer finished with her second double-double of the year with her 13 digs to go along with her kill total.
Meyer led the way in kills. Klump contributed 15 kills to the attack while Bekebrede finished with nine and Herington and Kit Spears (Valley Center, Kan./Valley Center) had four each.
S&T returns to action this weekend at the St. Cloud State Tournament in St. Cloud, Minn., this Friday and Saturday. The Lady Miners will play Wayne State (Neb.) at 1:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
