Box Score (Aurora, Ill.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners dropped the first then came back winning the next three to defeat Grand Valley State 3-1 (25-27, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21) on Friday morning at the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament in Aurora, Ill.
The match was tight throughout as there were 28 ties and 11 lead changes. A majority of those came in the first as the score was tied 15 times and it changed hands seven times.
S&T (15-6) led by as many as four over the Lakers (9-8) but were unable to put them away. The rest of the set saw neither side hold larger than a one point lead until the end when Grand Valley ran off two straight to win the set.
The Lady Miners trailed early in the second set before catching up at 11-all. From that point S&T ran off 10 of the next 14 points taking a commanding 21-15 lead. The Lakers got no closer than five points the rest of the set as the Lady Miners came away with the 25-19 win.
After a couple of early ties in the third set S&T began to take control building a 10-4 advantage. Grand Valley climbed back within two at 18-16 but the Lady Miners were able to extend their lead to 20-16 on an assisted block from Melanie Shehorn (Flora, Ill./Flora) and Kit Spears (Valley Center, Kan./Valley Center).
The Lakers answered back getting to within 21-20 on a kill from Abby Ebels. S&T ran off the next three points and had set point but gave up three straight making it a one point contest. It wouldn't matter though as the Lady Miners won the frame on a service error by the Lakers.
S&T led for a majority of set four except for an early tie. It led by as many as five on multiple occasions and were able to withstand a late run by Grand Valley that saw it as close as 22-21. The Lady Miners were able to hang on though scoring the final three points to win the match.
With the win the Lady Miners set a new school record for wins in a season with 15. They finished the match with 65 kills led by Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles)'s 23. Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) added 11 more while Spears finished with 10. Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) had 51 assists and Jennifer Kegler (Ballwin, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) had 14 digs.
As a team S&T hit 26.6 percent for the match and held the Lakers to just 21.1 percent.
Grand Valley was led by Abby Aiken with 12 kills. Clair Ruhenkamp had 33 assists while Sacha Gill had 10 digs.