Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners got off to a strong start against Upper Iowa scoring the first seven points of the match en route to a 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-19, 27-25) win over the Peacocks on Friday in S&T's home opener at the Middle of Everywhere Classic.

Kit Spears (Valley Center, Kan./Valley Center) served the first seven points to open the match as the Lady Miners (3-2) raced out of the gates. UIU (1-4) eventually cut the lead to 14-8 but S&T ran away with it from there building its lead 11 points late in the match.

The Lady Miners hit 27.3 percent in the opening set led by five kills apiece from Samantha Klump (Ash Grove, Mo./Homeschooled) and Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles). Overall the team finished with 15 kills in 33 chances. S&T held the Peacocks to just 3 percent in the stanza.

In the second set the Lady Miners again got off to a fast start scoring eight of the first 10 points before Upper Iowa went on a 6-1 run to get within 9-8. The Peacocks eventually took the lead on an attack error by Spears then stretched to 15-12. The two sides proceeded to trade points over the next 12 points before the Peacocks built a 24-19 advantage.

S&T ran off five straight points taking advantage of three straight Peacock errors to tie it, but couldn't quite close it out as a kill by UIU's Sara Vance and an error on Bekebrede squared the match at 1-1.

Upper Iowa had the slight advantage in set two outhitting the Lady Miners 14 percent to 12 percent. Each side had 13 kills apiece.

S&T held a slim lead early in the third set before going on an extended run building its lead to six points. The Peacocks got as close as three but no closer as the Lady Miners pulled away late to take the 2-1 advantage.

S&T hit 35.5 percent in the frame while Upper Iowa hit 26 percent. Klump, Bekebrede and Katie Herington (Kalona, Iowa/Mid-Prairie) combined for 13 of the team's 16 kills in the frame.

The fourth set was back-and-forth early on before the Lady Miners took control with a brief run building their lead to 14-10. It wouldn't last as the Peacocks stormed back to tie and eventually take the lead at 19-18.

S&T answered with three straight points to regain the lead, but UIU came right back with three of its own to take a 22-21 lead. Back-to-back kills from Klump and Bekebrede allowed the Lady Miners to regain a 23-22 advantage, but once again the Peacocks came back getting a kill by Vance and a service ace to take a 24-23 lead.

Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) tied it with a kill and then Bekebrede gave S&T the lead with a kill. A ball handling error by Costello tied it back up, but the Lady Miners were able to close it out thanks to back-to-back errors by Upper Iowa.

Bekebrede led S&T with 16 kills. Klump finished with 14 while Herington had nine and finished the match hitting 53 percent. Costello handed out 47 assists while Bridget Williams (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) had 19 digs. Bekebrede finished with her third double-double of the season digging 19 balls of the floor.

The Lady Miners finished the match hitting 27 percent recording 51 kills in 141 chances.

S&T returns to action at 6 p.m. against the University of Mary at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.