Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners split another pair of matches on Saturday at the UIndy Invitational. S&T dropped the first set to Ashland then proceeded to win three straight to take the opener 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 24-26, 21-25). In the nightcap the Lady Miners battled tough with 10^th ranked Hillsdale (Mich.) but fell 3-0 (23-25, 13-25, 21-25).

The match against was tightly contested in all four sets. The match featured 39 ties and 13 lead changes. 32 of those ties came in the first two sets. In the third set the Lady Miners rallied from six down to come back and win.

S&T (2-2) hit 18 percent and finished with 55 kills in the match. Erin Bekebrede (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) led the way for the Lady Miners finishing with 11 kills. Kit Spears (Valley Center, Kan./Valley Center) added 10 more while Jackie Zellmer (Nixa, Mo./Nixa) and Melanie Shehorn (Flora, Ill./Flora) added nine apiece. Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) nearly had a triple double finishing the match with seven kills, nine digs and 40 set assists. Jocelyn DeMotte (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) had 21 digs in the match leading three players in double figures. Jennifer Kegler (Ballwin, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) had 14 digs while Bekebrede added 11.

Ashland (2-2) hit just 12 percent in the contest finishing with 45 kills. The Eagles were led by Anesia Benton with a match-high 12 kills. Marcia Zegarac added eight to the attack while Susie Jonas had six and two others had five each. Crystal Elliott dished out 32 set assists and had 10 digs. Arian Martin had 19 digs to lead Ashland.

S&T-Hillsdale Recap

In their finale the Lady Miners locked horns with the defending Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champs. The Chargers (3-1) led by as many as eight in the opening set but S&T was able to cut the deficit to one but got no closer. The second set was all Hillsdale as it led the entire way. The third set was tight throughout before the Chargers pulled away at the end.

Lauren K. Grover and Ashlee Crowder had eight kills apiece to lead the Hillsdale attack. Clara Leutheuser added seven more. The Chargers hit 26 percent for the match. Apryl Schmucker dished out 30 assists while Morgan Podkul had 14 digs.

S&T had a hard time with Hillsdale's defense as the Chargers recorded 11 blocks and forced the Lady Miners into 28 errors. Bekebrede finished with 11 kills while Shehorn added 10. Costello had 36 assists while Kegler had 19 digs. DeMotte added 10 digs as well.

S&T opens the home portion of its schedule this coming Tuesday night against the second ranked Central Missouri Jennies beginning at 6 p.m., at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.