Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 (Florence, Ala.) – The Missouri Miner volleyball squad split its two matches at the North Alabama Classic on Saturday in Florence, Ala. S&T defeated the host Lions 3-0 (32-30, 25-23, 26-24) and then fell to Harding 3-0 (11-25, 18-25, 19-25).

The opener on Saturday morning was tightly contested with the two sides answering each other point for point. The match had 28 ties and 11 lead changes and had some great rallies throughout the match. The Miners (4-4) had an attack percentage of .168 recording 44 kills against 20 errors in 143 attempts while the Lions (2-5) finished with 49 kills but committed 28 errors in 148 swings to finish the match hitting .142.
Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West), Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) and Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) combined for 30 of S&T's 44 kills in the match. Katie McDonald (Orland Park, Ill./Providence Catholic) contributed five to the attack while Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville) had four. Plunk dished out 30 assists while Wright led the way with 16 digs and Cydney Denning (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis ) added 12.

S&T trailed 21-15 late in the opening set, but chipped away at the lead with an 8-1 run to take its first lead since early in the set. The Miners got to set point on an error by North Alabama, but the Lions came back to tie it. The two sides traded point for point as both sides had opportunities to take the set. S&T broke a 30-all tie on a kill from Moon and then won it on a kill from Haslag.

North Alabama led for most of set two, but like set one the Miners wouldn't go away eventually tying it at 20-20 on a kill from Moon. The Lions regained the lead at 23-22, but S&T scored the last three points of the frame to take the commanding 2-0 lead.

The Miners flipped the table on UNA in the third set getting out to a big lead early. S&T lead 17-12 and appeared to be in control of the set, but the Lions rallied scoring eight of the next 11 points to tie it at 20-20. The Miners ran off the next four setting up match point, but UNA responded to tie it at 24-all. S&T regained the lead on a service error and then won the match on a kill from Wright.

In their second game on Saturday the Miners got off to a slow start and were unable to recover against the Bison (5-3). Harding started the match out strong scoring the first four points and wouldn't look back. S&T got as close as 5-4, but no closer. The Bison hit .515 percent in the stanza with 19 kills in 33 chances.

The second set was tied at 15-all when Harding finished it out strong scoring 10 of the final 13 points to take the stanza 25-18. The finale was tied at 16, but just like the second set Harding scored 9 of the final 12 points to complete the victory 25-19.

S&T had an attack percentage of .106 in the match recording 30 kills against 18 errors in 113 chances. Haslag and Moon had seven kills apiece. Plunk distributed 23 assists while Denning had 16 digs.

Harding hit .275 percent for the match with 47 kills, 14 errors in 120 attempts. Mollie Arnold and Marindia Turner combined for over half of the team's kills. Taryn Eubank had 30 assists while Lisa Copeland had 21 digs.

The Miners open the home portion of their schedule next Saturday when it plays host to Indianapolis at 5 p.m., at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.