Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) - The Missouri S&T Lady Miners capped a perfect weekend with a 3-1 (25-21, 27-29, 25-17, 25-21) win over Northwest Missouri on Saturday evening in Rolla. With the win S&T evened its record at 4-4 while the Bearcats dropped to 4-4.

The first ever meeting between the two schools turned into a classic as the match featured 24 ties and nine lead changes. Each team finished with 55 kills, but Northwest committed 11 more attack errors.

The Bearcats led 13-9 midway through the first set before the Lady Miners closed to within 14-13 on a kill from Kelly Kosmopolis (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township). NWMSU stretched its lead to 17-15, but S&T answered right back with three straight to grab an 18-17 lead. After a couple of ties, the Lady Miners took a 22-19 lead on three straight kills from Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West). The Bearcats closed to within 22-21, but S&T finished the set off by scoring three straight taking advantage of a pair of attack errors by Northwest.

The second set was the most thrilling of the four with each side answering each other point-for-point. The Lady Miners led 15-11, but allowed the Bearcats to go on a 10-2 run to grab a 21-17 lead. S&T responded by scoring four of the next five points to close within 22-21. Northwest got two kills from Abby Graves sandwiched around a Wright kill to grab set point at 24-22. Wright and Kosmopolis recorded back-to-back kills to tie it at 24-24. Brooke Bartosh gave the Bearcats a 25-24 lead. A service error by Kirsten Hudgens tied it back up and then Torrie Rupe (Wichita, Kan./Collegiate) gave S&T a 26-25 lead. They couldn't close it out though as Northwest rallied twice to tie it at 27. Back-to-back errors by Rupe and Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) gave set two to the Bearcats 29-27.

S&T controlled a vast majority of set three and would cruise to a 25-17 win. They hit 31.4 percent in the set and held Northwest to just 5.1 percent.

The fourth set was tied 8-8 when the Lady Miners went on an 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the set. The Bearcats closed to within 21-17 before S&T pushed the margin to 24-18. Northwest wouldn't go quitely as it scored the next three points to close within 24-21. Haslag ended the match with a kill for the 25-21 win.

Wright led the way with 16 kills while Haslag and Kosmopolis chipped in with 12 and 11 respectively. Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) dished out 50 set assists and Jocelyn DeMotte (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) led the charge defensively with 23 digs. Four S&T players finished in double figures in digs.

Bartosh and Graves combined for over half of Northwest's kills. Dallas Gardner had 31 set assists while Tori Beckman had a match-high 28 digs.

The Lady Miners are back in action on Tuesday evening when they travel to Warrensburg for a date with the fifth ranked Central Missouri Jennies.

2012 Days Inn&Suites/Super 8 Middle of Everywhere Classic All-Tournament Team
Alison Cole Southwestern Oklahoma MH Junior
Melanie Bahnke Upper Iowa OH Junior
Meg Schwartz Emporia State L Senior
Stephanie Hattey Missouri Western S Junior
Devin Diedrich Southwest Minnesota State MH Senior
Lisa Studnicka Northern Michigan OH Freshman
Fawn Ryan Southern Indiana OH Sophomore
Brooke Bartosh Northwest Missouri State RS Sophomore
Abby Thissen Southwest Minnesota State RS Freshman

Tournament Most Valuable Player
Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) Missouri S&T MH Freshman