By: Luke Rinne, Assistant Sports Information Director
Box Score
(Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners picked up a 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-14, 25-13) win over Missouri Baptist on Tuesday night at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. Bridget Williams (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) recorded her 2,000th career dig and S&T recorded a season-high 70 kills finishing one shy of matching the school record set back in 2007.
Heading into the match Williams needed 19 digs in the team's final three matches of the regular season. She only needed one though digging up 26 balls, 14 in the fourth set, to become the first player in school history to top that mark. She now stands at 2,007 digs for her career.
The opening set was evenly matched through the first ten points before the Lady Miners (13-12) scored five of the next six points to grab a 10-6 lead. That lead eventually grew to 15-10, but the Spartans (18-16) closed to within 16-13 on an S&T service error. The Lady Miners quickly pushed the lead back-to-back five getting a kill and a service ace from Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) to make it 18-13. S&T stretched its lead to 24-15 on a block by Samantha Klump (Ash Grove, Mo./Homeschooled) and Jessica Laughary (Wheaton, Mo./Wheaton).
Missouri Baptist staved off two set points but couldn't fight off another as Laughary knocked home a kill to end the frame at 25-17.
The Lady Miners hit 57 percent in the opening stanza recording 18 kills led by Klump with five. Laughary, Kit Spears (Valley Center, Kan./Valley Center) and Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) had three apiece. S&T held the Spartans to just 10 kills and a hitting percentage of 18 percent.
The second set was the closest of the match featuring 12 ties and seven lead changes. S&T held a three point lead early before MBU rallied to take an 11-9 lead. The two sides then began exchanging points until the Lady Miners started to break away with back-to-back kills from Bekebrede and Kaci Herron (Jonesboro, Ark./Jonesboro) to make it 16-15. S&T stretched its lead to 22-18 but weren't able to finish as the Spartans ran off four straight to tie it. The Lady Miners regained the lead at 23-22 on a kill by Klump but Missouri Baptist scored the final three points of the frame to tie the match at 1-1.
The Lady Miners finished the second set hitting 25.5 percent with 17 kills but the Spartans were a little bit better hitting 27 percent with 19 kills. Jessica Bowman had nine kills in the set for MBU while Bekebrede had six for S&T.
The Lady Miners gave up the first point in the third set but after that they were all over the Spartans as they raced out to a 10-3 lead and didn't look back. S&T built a nine point lead but MBU cut it down to seven. The Lady Miners slammed the door shut scoring seven of the final nine points to take the set 25-13.
S&T hit 32 percent in the frame getting 16 kills in 41 chances. Bekebrede and Klump combined for 11 of those kills. Defensively the Lady Miners held the Spartans to a zero hitting percentage and just six kills.
The fourth set was a carbon copy of the third one as S&T gave up the first point, but it wouldn't trail again as it ran off seven of the next nine points building a 7-3 lead. The lead ballooned to 20-9 before MBU cut it to nine at 20-11. The Lady Miners continued to push forward building their lead back to 11 on service ace from Bekebrede to set up match point. After a service error by S&T, Laughary ended the match with her 11th kill of the night.
The Lady Miners knocked home 19 kills in the final set and had a hitting percentage of 36.2 percent. Bekebrede and Klump led the way with five kills apiece. The Spartans hit only 11 percent in the final set.
S&T had two players recorded double-doubles and nearly a third. Bekebrede finished the match with 20 kills and a career-high 26 digs while Costello had 54 assists and 14 digs. Laughary was one dig shy of reaching that mark. Klump had 17 kills and hit 52 percent for the match.
The Lady Miners finished the match with 83 digs and 88 points.
Missouri Baptist was led by Bowman with 18 kills and Lucy Ford with nine. The Spartans hit 15 percent for the match.
S&T closes out the regular season on the road with matches at Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky this weekend. The Lady Miners will play the Knights on Friday night in Louisville, Ky., beginning at 6 p.m. (CST).
