(Rolla, Mo.) – After back-to-back weekends on the road the Missouri S&T volleyball team finally gets to play its home opener this Saturday night against the 20^th ranked Indianapolis Greyhounds at 5 p.m. S&T will also play host to Saint Joseph's on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. This weekend also kicks off the start of conference action with all 16 GLVC members in action.

The Miners (4-4) and Greyhounds (4-4) are battled tested heading into Saturday night's contest. Half of their eight opponents have either been ranked or receiving votes at the time the contests were played. The two sides have a common opponent so far this season with each losing to Minnesota Duluth. The Miners were swept by the Bulldogs in Pensacola and the 'Hounds lost to UMD in four sets this past Friday in Somers, Wis.

UIndy returns four starters off of last year's team that advanced to the national semifinals in Pensacola, Fla. The 'Hounds have seven players with at least 30 kills led by sophomore Hailey Brown's 91. Brittany Anglemyer and Julie Watkins are second and third respectively with 66 and 51. Junior setter Meghan Binkerd, an AVCA and Daktronics All-American last year, returns to run the show for Indianapolis. She's off to another solid start this season averaging 9.86 sets, 2.31 digs and 1.03 kills per set.

Defensively the 'Hounds are averaging 14.66 digs and 2.14 blocks per set. Kenzie Bruggeman leads the way with 81 digs while Becca Lira has 29 total blocks.

UIndy has won the first five meetings between the two schools including last season's five set win in Indianapolis. The Miners dropped the first two sets, then rallied to take the next two, but couldn't complete the comeback as the 'Hounds took the finale.
Saint Joseph's enters the opening weekend of conference action with a record of 3-5 heading into its match at Drury on Saturday. The Pumas split their four matches at the Urbana Invite last weekend losing to Saginaw Valley 3-1 and Bellarmine 3-1. SJC swept past Urbana and defeated Lake Erie in four sets.
 
As a team the Pumas are hitting 17.4 percent for the season while allowing their opponents to hit .209. SJC is averaging 11.7 kills per set and are led by Katherine Brown with 38 kills and Erin Hyland with 36. Three other players have at least 20 kills in the attack. Megan Sturm is averaging 8.35 assists/set while Alyssa Guarnaccia is averaging 4.12 digs/set.
 
S&T has won three of the five meetings all-time against the Pumas. Last season the two sides met in Rensselaer, Ind., with the Miners coming away with a 3-1 victory. This will be just the third meeting all-time in Rolla with the series knotted at 1-1.
 
Miner Notes
Krista Halsag and Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) were both named to the all-tournament at North Alabama last weekend. Haslag led the tournament in blocking averaging 1.85 blocks per set. She also averaged 3.38 points and 2.85 kills per set. Wright finished the tournament leading the team in kills with 3.08 per set and was second in digs with 3.54 a set. She had a career best 17 digs against Rollins then followed it up with a 16 dig performance against North Alabama.
 
S&T currently ranks second in the GLVC and 19^th in Division II in blocks averaging 2.43 per set. The Miners averaged nearly three blocks per set last weekend in Florence. Haslag leads the GLVC and is fourth in Division II in blocking with 1.45 per set.
 
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