Rolla, Mo. – Missouri S&T's volleyball team concludes its seven match homestand on Tuesday night with a pivotal Great Lakes Valley conference match against Drury University beginning at 7 p.m. S&T looks to conclude its homestand with a perfect record and gain ground on the Panthers. Tuesday's match is Green Out Night with everyone encouraged to wear green to the contest.
Drury (13-2, 5-1 GLVC) currently sits in second place in the GLVC West Division and are a game ahead of the Miners (12-5, 4-2 GLVC). Tuesday's match also pits two of the top defensive teams in the conference against each other as the Panthers led the league in digs per set and are second in blocks per set while S&T is third in the league in blocks/set and fifth in digs per set.
Jackie Pyles (White Lake, Mich./West Bloomfield) continues to lead the GLVC in digs per set after averaging 6.2 digs/set in helping the Miners go 4-0 last week. She is currently ranked 11
th in all of Division II in total digs. Pyles capped the week with a 32 dig performance in the five set win over Southern Arkansas on Saturday which was one shy of her career-high and her second 30+ dig performance of the year.
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and
Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) lead the S&T attack with Combs averaging 3.13 kills per set while Haslag is averaging 3.10 kills per set. The duo accounted for over half of the Miner offense in the four wins last week. Combs recorded a new career-high with her 20 kills in the win over the Lady Muleriders while Haslag reached double figures in kills all four matches.
Drury enters Tuesday's match having won six straight and 10 of its last 11 after sweeping past Maryville on Saturday night at the O'Reilly Family Events Center.
BJ Specht leads the Panthers and the GLVC in kills per set averaging 3.75 while Laynie Timmons and Brooke Antenen are averaging 2.70 and 2.43 kills/set respectively. Antenen is the primary setter distributing 9.14 assists/set and McKenna Poynter is averaging nearly five digs per set. Drury also has a very balanced attack on the block with Timmons averaging 1.06 blocks per set while Antenen is at 1.02 per set.
