Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – Knowing it needed to win its last two matches the Missouri S&T Miner volleyball team got off to a good start putting together one of its best performances of the season in a 3-1 (25-15, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19) upset of 25^th ranked Rockhurst on Friday evening in Rolla. The Miner defense held the high flying Hawk attack nearly 100 points below their season average in the win.

S&T (14-16, 9-8 GLVC) came out of the gates on fire scoring the first nine points of the match. It was reminiscent of the Miners start against Indianapolis nearly two months ago when they scored the first nine points of that contest as well. S&T led by as many as 10 before Rockhurst (24-6, 14-3 GLVC) cut the lead to 15-10 on a kill by Emily Ready. That would be the closest it got as the Miners stretched the lead back out to eight and eventually won by 10 with Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) hammering home a kill to end the set.

The second set was the tightest of the four featuring six ties and three lead changes. The Miners trailed 8-7 when Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) knocked down a kill to ignite an 8-1 run and give S&T a 15-9 advantage. The Hawks would cut the margin to two, but just like the first set the Miners pulled away to win 25-17 and take the commanding 2-0 lead.

Rockhurst raced out to a 9-3 lead in the third set only to watch S&T come back and tie it at 12-all. The Hawks regained the lead, but once again the Miners came back to tie it at 15-15. Rockhurst surged ahead scoring five of the next seven points to grab a 20-17 lead. S&T clawed back to within one before the Hawks ended the frame scoring five of the last six points to win 25-20.

In the fourth set it was S&T's turn to get off to a fast start and it did scoring five of the first six points to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Rockhurst got as close as 9-7, but no closer as the Miners countered with a 6-2 run to take a six-point cushion. The Hawks wouldn't get closer than three points the rest of the set as S&T won it 25-19.

The Miners finished the match with an attack percentage of .258, which was 125 points higher than what Rockhurst allowed on the season, and had 59 kills against 17 errors. Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) led three S&T players in double figures with 16 kills. Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) added 13 off the bench while Claire Luther (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) dropped home 11. Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville) dished out 48 assists while Cydney Denning (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis ) finished with 19 digs.

The Hawks ended the match with 49 kills against 28 errors and was led by Alyssa Arnold with 15 kills. Whitney Kostal had 37 assists while Victoria Mahl dug up 14 balls.

The Miners close out the regular season on Saturday playing host to William Jewell in a 3 p.m. match at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.