Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 (Rolla, Mo.) - The Missouri S&T Lady Miner volleyball squad picked up its first two wins of the season in thrilling fashion on Friday in the Days Inn & Suites/Super 8 Middle of Everywhere Classic at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. S&T defeated Upper Iowa 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 24-26, 18-16) during the afternoon session and Northern Michigan 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 25-20) during the night session.

S&T (2-4) got off to a slow start against Upper Iowa trailing by as many as nine points in the set. The Peacocks had 14 kills against six errors to hit 18.2 percent while the Lady Miners hit 6.8 percent (13k/10e/44ta). They fell behind 3-1 in set two before recovering to take a 9-8 lead on a service ace from Kelly Kosmopolis (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township). After a service error by Kosmopolis S&T ran off five straight to take a 14-9 advantage. That lead eventually grew to 17-12 before Upper Iowa ran off six straight to take an 18-17 lead.

The Lady Miners responded with three straight to regain the lead and wouldn't relinguish it as they held off the Peacocks for the 25-22 win. S&T hit 16.3 percent in set while holding UIU to just 13.5 percent.

After an early tie in the third set the Lady Miners begain to slowly pull away leading by as many as seven in the frame. The Peacocks got within 20-17, but S&T scored five of the final seven points to take the 2-1 lead with a 25-19 victory. The Lady Miners hit 30.8 percent in the frame while holding Upper Iowa to a 10.5 hitting percentage. S&T scored three of the first four points in set four but the Peacocks stormed back to take the lead and eventually built a four point cushion. S&T rallied to tie it at 24-all but couldn't complete the comeback as UIU scored the last two points to force the fifith and deciding game.

In the final set the Lady Miners raced out to an early 5-2 advantage, but the Peacocks came back to take an 11-10 lead on a kill from Hailey Brown. The two sides would trade points as Upper Iowa continued to hold a one point edge. They had match point three times but couldn't close out S&T. With the match tied at 16-all Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) teamed up with Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) for a block to give the Lady Miners match point and then on the next swing Haslag teamed up with fellow freshman Torrie Rupe (Wichita, Kan./Collegiate) to stuff Haylie Franklin for the game winner.

The Lady Miners finished the match with 13 total blocks and were led offensively by Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) with 20 kills. Kosmopolis chipped in with 14 kills while Haslag added 13 and Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) added 12. As a team S&T 20.8 percent for the match and held Upper Iowa to a 16.0 hitting percentage.

In the finale against Northern Michigan the common theme was falling behind early. The Lady Miners trailed in each of the four sets but found a way to come from behind. They trailed by as many as five at 18-13 but finished the set scoring 12 of the final 17 points to win the opener. Haslag scored three of the final four points on kills.

S&T fell behind 9-3 in set two but proceeded to run off 11 of the next 13 points to take a 14-11 lead. The lead grew to 16-12 before the Wildcats charged back with a 13-2 run to finish the set and tie it at 1-1 25-18.

NMU scored eight of the first nine points to begin set three but once again the Lady Miners rallied. They began chipping away the deficit and eventually tied at 14-all on an error by Lisa Studnicka. A kill by Andree Ring gave the Wildcats the lead back, but S&T refused to go away climbing back to take a 20-19 lead on a kill from Wright. The lead grew to three on two different occassions before Costello and Haslag ended the set with a stuff block of Ring for the 25-22 win.

In the fourth set NMU again scored first, but this time the two sides traded points until 7-7. The Lady Miners rattled off six straight points to take a 13-7 lead thanks in large part to four straight Wildcat attack errors. S&T continued to pull away leading by as many as eight at 20-12. Northern Michigan charged back though scoring eight of the next nine points to get within 21-20 on a kill from Lina Lopes. That would be as close as they got though. An error by Studnicka made it 22-20 and then back-to-back kills from Haslag and Rupe set up match point at 24-20. An error by Studnicka ended the contest.

The Lady Miners hit just 11.1 percent in the match and were led by Rupe with 13 kills while Wright chipped in with 10. S&T once again had 13 total blocks.

Northern Michigan hit only 7.2 percent and was led by Studnicka with 16 kills.

The Lady Miners will play again on Saturday starting at 11 a.m., against Southwestern Oklahoma and then again at 5 p.m., against Northwest Missouri.