Denver, Colo. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball dropped a pair of hard fought matches in pool play on the first day of the Colorado Premiere Challenge in Denver. S&T fell in its opener to 13^th ranked Ferris State 3-1 (27-25, 13-25, 21-25, 17-25) and to 25^th ranked West Florida 3-1 (11-25, 25-21, 22-25, 21-25).

In the opener on Friday the Miners (4-2) had a hard time slowing down the Ferris State (5-0) attack as the Bulldogs finished the match hitting .321 percent and had 61 kills compared to just 41 kills for S&T.

The Miners were able to fight back from a two-point deficit late in the first set scoring six of the final eight points to take the opener over the Bulldogs. Ferris State dominated the second set hitting a blistering .600 percent as it got out to an early four-point lead. S&T wouldn't get closer than two points the rest of the set.

In the third the Bulldogs got out to a six-point lead, the Miners though climbed back to within three points multiple times but couldn't get over the hump as Ferris State held off the late charge to take the 2-1 lead. S&T led by three early in set four before the Bulldogs used a 9-1 run to grab a five-point lead midway through the stanza. The Miners were able to cut the deficit to three but wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way.

Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) led S&T with nine kills while Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) added eight and Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) had seven. Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) had 29 assists while Jackie Pyles (White Lake, Mich./West Bloomfield) finished with 19 digs.

Megan Vander Meer led three Bulldogs in double figures with 18 kills while Caroline Heitzman and Alexis Huntey added 14 kills each. Stephanie Sikorski handed out 45 assists while Vander Meer and Katie Placek had 13 digs apiece.

In its second match on Friday, the Miners fell into an early hole against West Florida (4-1) in the opening set and weren't able to recover as the Argonauts cruised to a 25-11 win. UWF hit over 50 percent in the first frame and held S&T to a .033 hitting percentage.

The Miners allowed the Argos to score the first two points of set two before rattling off eight in a row to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish as they held off a late Argo rally to take the second set 25-21 and even the match at a set apiece.

S&T held a lead for a majority of the third set and was ahead 22-20 after an assisted block from Claire Luther (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) and Haslag forced a UWF timeout. The Miners though were unable to close it out as the Argos scored the final five points of the stanza to take it 25-22 and take the 2-1 match lead.

West Florida scored the first five points of the fourth set, but S&T was able to close within 7-6 after a kill by Combs as part of a 6-2 run. The Argos pushed its lead back to five points; however the Miners continued to fight and cut the lead to 16-14 after back-to-back kills from Moon.

S&T was able to get within 22-21 after a service ace from Caitlin Brocker (Crystal Lake, Ill./Marian Central ) and a kill from Combs but just like the third set the Miners were unable to close it out as UWF scored the final three points to take the set 25-21 and the match.

Moon and Combs were the lone S&T players in double figures with 12 and 10 kills respectively while Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) added six kills. White finished with 28 assists and Pyles had 18 digs. As a team the Miners had an attack percentage of .110 for the match.

West Florida finished the match hitting .275 percent and was led by Autumn Duyn with a match-high 20 kills while Cora Bidlack had 14 kills. Monique StCyr dished out 53 assists while Tori Martella had 21 digs.

S&T returns to the court on Saturday taking on Colorado Mesa University at 1 p.m. (CDT) in the Bronze Bracket at Metropolitan State University of Denver. The Miners would then play either UC-San Diego or Angelo State at 3:30 p.m. (CDT) or 6 p.m. (CDT) depending on the outcome of the match against Mesa.