Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners lost 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25) at home to Missouri Baptist on Wednesday evening. The Spartans, ranked 17^th in the NAIA, hit 36.5 percent in the final two sets breaking a 1-1 tie to win the match.
Both teams came out sluggish to open the match and it showed as there were a combined 16 attack errors in the set. There were seven ties and three lead changes in the frame. S&T (13-5) held a 19-17 edge but couldn't close it out. Missouri Baptist (18-2) took the lead 23-22 on a kill by Lucy Ford. The Lady Miners tied it back up at 23-all on a kill from Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) but the Spartans scored the next two taking the set 25-23.
S&T dominated the second set recording 16 kills against one error to hit nearly 40 percent while holding MBU to just a seven percent hitting percentage. Alison Mueller (Bartelso, Ill./Mater Dei ) and Bekebrede combined for nine kills in the stanza as the Lady Miners scored 10 of the final 14 points to square the match at 1-1.
The Spartans raced out to a 6-1 lead in the third and never let it go. S&T got as close as 14-13 before MBU stretched its lead to six. The Lady Miners cut the lead to 23-20 but couldn't overcome the play of Casey Chernin's five kills in the frame as the Spartans took the swing set 25-21.
Each team hit well in the frame as MBU hit 32.4 percent and S&T hit 31.4 percent.
In the final set the Lady Miners couldn't stop Chernin as she had nine kills against no errors as she recorded half of MBU's kills. Despite her play though S&T still led 20-16 and had an opportunity to extend the lead but the Spartans answered back running off four straight to tie it. The Lady Miners scored two straight before giving a point back on a service error. Missouri Baptist took advantage of the error scoring the last four points, three of kills from Chernin to win 25-22.
Chernin finished with a match-high 21 kills and hit 38.3 percent. Lucy Ford chipped in with 11 while Lauren Stuckel and Jessica Bowman had seven kills apiece. Stuckel dished out 37 assists while Tracey Abell had 20 digs.
Jackie Zellmer (Nixa, Mo./Nixa) had 16 kills in the match to lead S&T while Bekebrede added 15 more. Mueller finished with eight kills. Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) had 48 assists while Jocelyn DeMotte (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) had 20 digs.
The Lady Miners are back at home on Saturday night taking on Southern Indiana at 5 p.m.