(Rolla, Mo.) – Missouri S&T came up on the short end of a hard fought five set match against Harding 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 20-25, 14-16) on Saturday evening. S&T held a 2-1 lead in the match before dropping the final two sets. The Miners trailed 14-10 in the fifth set, came back to tie it but eventually lost 16-14.

Both sides had slow starts to the match as Harding (12-6) hit just .073 in the opening set recording 13 kills but committed 10 errors. S&T (10-9) registered 11 kills while committing just four errors in 39 swings to hit .179 percent.

The Miners built a six-point lead midway through the opening set only to see the Bison close within 18-17 on a kill from Molly Howard. S&T stretched its lead to 24-19 thanks to a 6-2 surge and then had to fend off Harding to win the opener 25-21.

The Bison broke an early tie in the second stanza on a kill from Liv Savage sparking a 9 -4 run and staked them to a five-point advantage. The Miners fought their way back with five straight points to even the set at 20-all on a kill by Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville). Harding answered back scoring the next three and appeared to have the set in hand only to watch S&T counter their run and get back to within a point at 23-22 on a kill by Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ). Erica Heim then put the Bison ahead by two with a kill, but Plunk answered with a kill of her own to make it 24-23. Howard ended the set on the next point to even the match at a set each.

The third frame saw the Miners open with a 5-1 run before Harding came back to it at 9 on a service error. S&T began to pull away eventually building its largest lead of the set at 24-16 on a kill from Haslag. The Bison made the Miners work for the win scoring three straight points before they could close it out.

The fourth set featured nine ties and a lead change with the action going back-and-forth. It was tied 10-10 when Harding began to pull away scoring seven of the next 10 points to grab a four point lead. The Miners chipped away at the deficit getting to within 18-15 on another kill from Haslag. That would be the closest S&T got as the Bison ended the frame scoring seven of the final 12 points to even the match with a 25-20 win.

In the finale Harding scored three of the first four points, but the Miners got back-to-back kills from Haslag and Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) to even it back up. The Bison then went on a 9-3 run to take their biggest lead of the set at 12-6 on a kill from Howard. The Miners closed to within three after a kill from Haslag then Haslag and Alison Mueller (Bartelso, Ill./Mater Dei ) blocked Howard at the net. Harding reached match point on a kill by Heim, but S&T responded with four straight points getting two kills each from Plunk and Moon to even it at 14-all. Heim put the Bison back in front with her 17^th kill of the contest then Marindia Turner ended it with her 15th kill.

The Miners outhit Harding .255-to-.225, had more kills 69-to-65 and committed three fewer errors but it wasn't enough. Haslag led three S&T players in double figures with a match-high 18 kills. Jackie Zellmer (Nixa, Mo./Nixa) added 14 kills while Moon finished with 11. Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville) dished out 43 assists while Emily Jaeger (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) had 15 digs.

Heim was one of three Bison players in double figures with 17 kills while Turner and Howard contributed 15 and 12 kills respectively. Taryn Eubank had 57 assists and Anna Leigh Cargile had 23 digs.

The Miners are back in action next weekend taking part in the seventh annual GLVC/GLIAC Crossover tournament in Aurora, Ill. The tournament schedule will be announced on Monday.