Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball came out of the gates red hot in its 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 12-25, 25-22) win over Missouri-St. Louis on Wednesday evening. The match started a stretch that will see S&T play six of its next seven matches at home.

After falling behind to begin the match the Miners (3-5) stormed back with a 9-2 run to take control of the frame with a 15-10 lead. Missouri-St. Louis (5-2) cut the deficit to 19-17, but wouldn't get any closer than that as S&T closed out the stanza scoring six of the last eight points.

The Miners hit .500 percent in the opening frame and were led by Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) with five kills in six chances. Jackie Pyles (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield), Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South), Katie McDonald (Orland Park, Ill./Providence Catholic) and Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) had three kills each. S&T finished the set with 19 kills.

The Tritons finished the opening stanza with 13 kills and had were led by three players with three kills apiece. UMSL hit .300 percent in the frame.

In the second set the Miners raced out to the early lead only to see the Tritons come back and tie the frame up at 10-all on a kill by Lexi Rogers. S&T stormed right back scoring six of the next seven points to take a 16-11 lead on a kill by Pyles. UMSL got back within three, but just like the opening stanza the Miners were able close it out with another late run outscoring the Tritons 7-1 down the stretch.

It was S&T's defense doing the job in the second stanza holding UMSL to a negative .023 hitting percentage and forced eight attack errors. Haslag paced the Miner attack in set two with five kills while Pyles, Friedlund and Moon had three each.

The third set was all Tritons as they raced out to a 10-2 lead to start the frame and wouldn't look back. S&T would cut the deficit to 10-5, but UMSL score five straight points to take a commanding 10-point lead and cruised to the 25-12 win to force a fourth set.

The Tritons recorded 17 kills in set three and hit .452 percent while holding the Miner attack to a negative .034 hitting percentage.

The fourth set was the tightest of the match featuring 13 ties and nine lead changes along the way. With the score tied at 16-all UMSL scored three straight points and appeared to take control of the set forcing an S&T timeout. After the break in play the Miners closed out the match with a 9-3 run including the final three points of the match to snap the Tritons four-match winning streak.

S&T finished the contest with a hitting percentage of .216 and recorded 56 kills against just 24 errors in 148 total attempts. Moon led three Miner players in double figures with 13 kills while Pyles and Haslag added 11 apiece. Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville) dished out 46 assists while Pyles and Emily Jaeger (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) had 14 digs each.

UMSL hit slightly better finishing with a hitting percentage of .219 but recorded 54 kills against 22 errors in 148 chances. Haley Brightwell led the way for the Tritons with 12 kills while Hannah Miller added 11. Lindsay Meyer distributed 35 assists and Emily Bragaw had 18 digs.

S&T is back at home on Saturday afternoon when it takes on Bellarmine University beginning at 3 p.m.