Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 (St. Cloud, Minn.) –The Missouri S&T volleyball squad dropped a pair of three set matches on Saturday at the St. Cloud State tournament. The Lady Miners dropped a hard fought opener to Ferris State 3-0 (20-25, 21-25, 25-27) and to fifth ranked Nebraska-Kearney 3-0 (22-25, 12-25, 14-25).

Against Ferris State (6-3), S&T (2-7), had a hard time stopping the Bulldog offense as they hit .353 percent by recording 17 kills in 34 chances in the first set. The Lady Miners though put some good numbers on the offensive end as well driving home 11 kills in 33 chances for a .212 hitting percentage. It was tight early on before Ferris State was able to get out to an 18-10 lead. S&T closed the gap to with four on a couple different occasions but were unable to get closer as the Bulldogs held on for the win.

The Lady Miners got off to a fast start in set two scoring the first four points, but Ferris State came back to eventually tie it up at 9 all. Each side exchanged point-for-point until the Bulldogs scored five straight points to take a 17-14 advantage. S&T was able to come back and tie the set back up at 18-18, but the Bulldogs quickly scored the next four points to regain the advantage. The Lady Miners were able to stave off two set points on a kill by Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and a Ferris State attack error but couldn't fight off a third as the Bulldogs took the 2-0 advantage.

S&T led for most of the third set getting its lead to as big as six early in the match but the Bulldogs kept coming back. The Lady Miners were able to build a 23-19 advantage late and had three shots at winning the set but Ferris was able to win the points to extend it. S&T had a fourth shot to win the set on an attack error by the Bulldogs' Ashley Huntley, but FSU came back with three straight points to end the match.

Meyer had 10 kills in the match to lead the Lady Miners. Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) had eight while Samantha Klump (Ash Grove, Mo./Homeschooled) and Kaci Herron (Jonesboro, Ark./Jonesboro) had six each. Danielle Kracl (Omaha, Neb./Burke) had 13 set assists while Bridget Williams (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) had 11 digs.

In the finale against the Lopers of Nebraska-Kearney, S&T hung tough in the first set that saw nine ties and three lead changes but UN-Kearney scored four of the final six points for the 25-22 opening frame win.

The next two sets were all Lopers as they got out to big leads and never looked back as the Lady Miners had no answer for the offensive balance of Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers had 26 kills in the final two sets to just 14 for S&T. Four UN-Kearney players recorded at least seven kills in the contest led by Erica Burson with eight.

Klump led the Lady Miner offense with seven kills while Meyer and Katie Herington (Kalona, Iowa/Mid-Prairie) had six apiece. Meyer finished the weekend with 46 kills and was named to the all-tournament squad.

S&T returns to action next Friday and Saturday at the Nebraska-Omaha tournament where they will take on Angelo State (Texas) on Friday morning at 10 a.m.