Box Score

(Highland Heights, Ky.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners dropped its season finale at Northern Kentucky 3-1 (9-25, 25-23, 13-25, 22-25), but finished the year with a winning record for the first time in the short history of the program.

The opening set was all Norse (20-12, 10-4 GLVC) as they built an early 10-2 lead. That lead eventually grew to 20-4 as they went on to win 25-9. The Norse hit nearly 48 percent in the frame recording 13 kills against two errors in 23 chances. Noelle Peterson had four kills in the set to lead NKU. S&T (14-13, 7-7 GLVC) struggled to get its offense going finishing with four kills against eight errors. Four different players had a kill for the Lady Miners.

S&T bounced back in the second set to win 25-23. The Lady Miners led for a majority of the set then had to withstand a late Norse rally to the tie match at 1-1. S&T hit 34 percent in the frame and had 14 kills against three errors in 32 chances. Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) had four kills to lead the Lady Miners. NKU hit slightly higher at 36 percent but committed two more errors.

After a pair of early ties in set three the Norse pulled away with an 11-2 run to take a commanding 13-4 lead. S&T couldn't get any closer than eight the rest of the way as NKU went on to win 25-13.

The Norse hit 50 percent in the third frame and was led by Peterson with six kills. The Lady Miners hit 16 percent in the stanza and had three players with two kills apiece.

The fourth set was the closest of the match featuring 14 ties and six lead changes but down the stretch S&T struggled to make the plays and Northern Kentucky was able to win 25-22.

The Lady Miners hit 28 percent in the final set while the Norse hit 35 percent. Samantha Klump (Ash Grove, Mo./Homeschooled) had four kills in the frame to lead S&T. Sarah Drennen and Peterson had five kills apiece to lead NKU.

The Norse finished the match with 71 kills led by three players in double figures. Drennen had a match-high 19 kills. Peterson contributed 18 and Shelby Buschur had 15. Kelly Morrissey dished out 63 assists and Kylee Tarantino had 15 digs.

S&T finished the match with 38 kills and was led by Klump with 10, Bekebrede had eight and Katie Herington (Kalona, Iowa/Mid-Prairie) added seven. Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) had 30 assists while Bridget Williams (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) had 14 digs.