By: Luke Rinne, Assistant Sports Information Director
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 (Indianapolis, Ind.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners opened its 2011 season on Friday splitting a pair at the University of Indianapolis Invitational. S&T swept past the Florida Tech Panthers 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-17). The Lady Miners had a 2-0 lead against Saginaw Valley in the second match but couldn't hold on as they fell 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 13-25, 18-25, 12-15).
S&T-Florida Tech Recap
Freshman Jackie Zellmer (Nixa, Mo./Nixa) had a quite a debut for S&T leading the way with 14 kills, two service aces and a pair of block assists in the win over Florida Tech.
The Lady Miners (1-1) and the Panthers (0-1) were tied 4-4 before S&T pulled away scoring eight of the next nine points. Zellmer had six kills in the frame followed by Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) with five and Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) with four. As a team the Lady Miners hit 46 percent, finishing with 16 kills.
Florida Tech led by as many as five points in the second set. Trailing 19-14, S&T responded out of a timeout with a 7-1 run to take the lead 21-20. The Panthers retook the lead with back-to-back points before the Lady Miners ran off the final four points to take the commanding lead. Zellmer again led the way with four kills and two aces.
In the final set neither side held more than a one point lead through the first 18 points. With the score tied at 9 S&T ran off five straight points to take control of the set. Florida Tech got within three points on two different occasions, but no closer. Zellmer ended the match with her 14th kill.
Zellmer led all players in kills and hit 57 percent for the match. Bekebrede added 10 to the attack while Wright contributed seven. Jenny Costello dished out 37 assists while Jennifer Kegler (Ballwin, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) had 17 digs.
The Lady Miners finished the match with 42 kills while hitting 26.4 percent.
The Panthers were led by Janice Valies with 10 kills.
S&T's defense held Florida Tech to 25 kills while forcing them into 18 errors holding them to a hitting percentage of .067.
S&T-Saginaw Valley State Recap
The Lady Miners fell behind in each of the first two sets but were able to rally for victories. S&T hit 18.3 percent in the first two sets and held Saginaw Valley's (1-0) offense in check limiting it to a hitting percentage of .023. Bekebrede had 10 kills thru the first two sets.
The Cardinals scored the first five points in set three and didn't look back on their way to a 25-13 win. SVSU was on fire offensively hitting nearly 40 percent with 15 kills in 33 chances.
The fourth set was even until about the midway point when the Cardinals began to pull away stretching its lead to as many as seven points. S&T got as close as five but no closer as SVSU was able to force the fifth and deciding game.
In the finale the Lady Miners grabbed an early 1-0 lead but it was their only one as the Cardinals ran off four straight points to take the lead for good. S&T got no closer than a point the rest of the match.
The last three sets was a role reversal of the first two sets as the Cardinal offense caught fire and the Lady Miners struggled. SVSU hit 31 percent with 37 kills.
Annie Buxton led three Cardinal players in double figures with 22 kills. Katie Fitzgerald and Becky Schroeder had 12 and 11 kills respectively.
Bekebrede had 18 kills to lead S&T.
The Lady Miners will be back in action at Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon taking on Ashland at 2:30 p.m. (CST).
