(Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball team heads back out on the road again traveling to Truman State and Quincy for conference matches this weekend. The Miners and Bulldogs meet on Friday at 7 p.m. and then on Saturday S&T will face-off against the Hawks at 3 p.m.

The Miners take a three match winning streak on the road with them heading into Friday night's showdown in Kirksville. S&T has won the last two GLVC West titles and this year it is Truman that is the top dog in the division.

Friday's contest will be the fourth meeting all-time with the Bulldogs having won the first three. The two teams met last year in Rolla in a nonconference match with Truman coming away with a 3-2 win.

Last week the Miners won a pair of five set matches against Drury and Missouri-St. Louis. Sandwiched between those wins was a sweep against Maryville. S&T got a balanced offensive attack last week with five players recording at least 20 kills. Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) led the charge with 31 kills while Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) and Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) contributed 30 each.  Claire Luther (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) came off the bench to replace an injured Katie McDonald (Orland Park, Ill./Providence Catholic) and finished the week with 29 kills.

The Miners averaged 13 kills/set and had an attack percentage of .211 (169k/62e/507ta). Defense though continues to be the story for S&T as it finished the week with a team total of 41 blocks and averaged 3.15 per set. The Miners registered a season best 17 team blocks at Drury and then had 15 against the Tritons. Haslag is currently tied for first in the conference with her 1.37 blocks per set. As a team, S&T is second in the league in blocks (2.48 per set), second in opponent hitting percentage (.149) and fifth in digs (16.11/set).

Truman enters play this week riding an eight match winning streak after winning all three of its matches last week. The 'Dogs are also tied for the overall top spot in the league, have won nine of their last 10 matches and are currently ranked 17^th in the country.

TSU has an attack percentage of .226 (957k/369e/2600ta) while its opponents are hitting .171 (880k/432e/2622ta). The Bulldogs are averaging more than 13 kills per set and are led by Allie Brak with 257 kills. Abby Heise, Ali Patterson and Emilee Walters have 173, 157 and 149 kills respectively. Meghan Zimmeran is the primary setter averaging 10.67 assists per set while Abby Moser has dug up 266 balls off the floor.

Brak is the reigning GLVC player of the week after averaging 4.64 kills, 3.18 digs and 0.73 blocks per set last weekend.

Quincy enters play this weekend having lost four straight and eight of its last 10 matches overall. Last weekend the Hawks dropped a five set match at William Jewell and were then swept at Rockhurst. Quincy is 6-12 on the season and 2-7 in GLVC action.
 
As a team the Hawks are hitting .183 percent for the season while allowing their opponents to hit .205. Quincy is averaging 12.8 kills per set and is led by Samantha Haegle with 211 kills while Carly Schmitt and Brittany Atkinson have contributed 162 and 118 respectively. Renee Beranek is averaging 7.37 assists/set while Sommer Holder is averaging 4.19 digs/set.

Saturday's match against Quincy will be the 11th meeting all-time between the two schools with the series tied 5-5. The Hawks won the first five meetings in the series while S&T has won the last five. Last season the Miners swept the Hawks twice. This will be the sixth meeting at Quincy where the Hawks hold a 3-2 lead.
 
Game Notes
Friday's match – Live Stats
Saturday's match – Live Stats