Box Score (Pensacola, Fla.) – The Missouri S&T Miners rallied from a 2-1 deficit and were down by as many as nine points in the fourth set, but rallied to defeat Northern Michigan 3-2 (25-15, 18-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-9) in a thrilling five set match at West Florida on Saturday. With the win the Miners picked up their third straight win against the Wildcats.

S&T (2-1) got off to a great start on both sides of the ball to begin the match. They recorded 11 kills against just four errors to hit 22 percent in the opening set while forcing NMU (2-1) to hit into 10 errors against just eight kills. The Miners recorded six total blocks in the set and were led by Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West)'s five kills and five digs. S&T led throughout building a seven point lead early, but the Wildcats got to within 14-13. After that the Miners put the set away with an 11-2 run. Wright had two kills and an ace in the run.

There were a few early ties in the second set before Northern Michigan took control with a 6-1 surge to build a 9-4 edge. S&T wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way as the Wildcats led by as many as 11 points in the frame. NMU had 14 kills in the stanza compared to just six for the
Miners.

The third set was tight up until the midway point when the Wildcats began to break away thanks to a 10-1 run. S&T would battle back to within six points, but couldn't get any closer as NMU would go onto win 25-18 and take the 2-1 lead.

The Wildcats dominated the early portions of set four building that nine-point cushion and appeared to be cruising towards victory. S&T began to turn it around scoring seven straight points to pull within 19-17 on an ace from Caitlin Brocker (Crystal Lake, Ill./Marian Central ). Northern Michigan answered with back-to-back points, but the Miners wouldn't be denied scoring four straight points to take the lead at 23-21 on a block by Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) and Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville). The Wildcats answered back with two straight points, but S&T got a kill from Ashley Allegri (Leawood, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) and evened the set on an error by Northern Michigan.

The fifth and deciding set saw the Miners score 8 of the first 12 points, but the Wildcats stayed within striking distance. S&T closed out the match strong scoring six of the last eight points. Haslag sparked the run with a kill and block then Plunk dropped in a pair of kills to make it 13-8. A kill from Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) set up match point and then Wright and Moon blocked Sarah Hamilton at the net for the win.

Wright finished the match with 12 kills while Haslag chipped in with 11. Claire Luther (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) added six more off the bench. Plunk dished out 36 assists while Cydney Denning (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis ) had 24 digs. Moon finished the match with six total blocks while Haslag added five. S&T had 48 kills in the match and hit 18.4 percent.

The Wildcats were led by Lina Lopes with a match-high 17 kills. Kalli Herron added 14 kills while Hamilton contributed 11 to the attack. Kellisha Harley distributed 40 assists and Alex Berger had 19 digs. NMU had 54 kills but committed 12 more errors and hit only 13.5 percent.