Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T volleyball team heads to Chicago this weekend to take part in the eighth annual Midwest Region Crossover tournament at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill. The Miners will play two matches on Friday against Cedarville at 11 a.m., against Findlay at 6 p.m. and against Grand Valley State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
S&T (14-6, 6-3 GLVC) enters the Crossover as the sixth seed from the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Miners went 2-1 last week defeating Drury 3-1 at home last Tuesday, swept William Jewell on Friday and then lost at Rockhurst 3-0 on Saturday.
Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) continues to lead the offensive attack averaging 3.15 kills per set while
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and
Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) are averaging 3.03 and 2.27 kills/set respectively.
Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) is distributing 9.76 assists per set while
Jackie Pyles (White Lake, Mich./West Bloomfield) continues to lead the GLVC in digs/set with 5.58.
Cedarville enters play this week having won eight straight matches to improve its record to 10-8 and are 5-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets play a non-conference match on Tuesday against Central State.
Abby Shelton leads the Jackets in kills averaging nearly four per set while Krissy Pratt is averaging 2.87 per set. Kristin Cardwell is the primary setter dishing out almost eight assists per set while Angela Becker has dug up 261 attacks for an average of 4.08 per set.
Findlay is 14-3, 8-1 in the GLIAC on the season and will play Wisconsin-Parkside in its first match at the Crossover. The Oilers have won eight straight, 14 of their last 15 since starting the season 0-2 and are second in the GLIAC standings. This past weekend Findlay picked up wins over Saginaw Valley 3-1 and Wayne State 3-0.
Hannah Tong and Amanda Winner pace the Oiler attack averaging 3.93 and 3.07 kills per set respectively. Hailee Olson is dishing out 12.08 assists/set and Becca Shoemaker is averaging 3.36 digs per set.
Saturday's match against Grand Valley marks the seventh all-time meeting between the two schools with the Lakers holding a 4-2 advantage. This is the fifth time the two schools have met at the Crossover with each side winning two matches.
Grand Valley is 11-6, 7-2 in the GLIAC on the year and currently in fifth place in the GLIAC standings. The Lakers will play Lewis and Indianapolis on Friday before taking on S&T.
As a team, Grand Valley is averaging 13.36 kills/set and has an attack percentage of .205. Staci Brower leads the attack knocking down 3.42 kills per set while Kaleigh Lound and Jessica Majerle are contributing 2.22 and 2.04 kills/set respectively. Taylor Stewart and Katie Olson run the offense distributing 6.90 and 5.49 assists per set respectively. Taylor Shomin leads the way on the defensive side of the ball with 4.81 digs/set.
