Denver, Colo. – The Missouri S&T volleyball squad upset 18^th ranked Colorado Mesa 3-0 (26-24, 30-28, 25-19) in its first match of the day on Saturday and in its second match rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Angelo State 3-2 (12-25, 29-27, 15-25, 25-18, 15-8) to win the Bronze Bracket at the Colorado Premiere Challenge on Saturday at Metropolitan State University-Denver. The 6-2 start to the season is the best start through eight matches in school history besting the previous one of 5-3 set in 2011.

Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) led S&T (6-2) in the opener with 17 kills and become the third member in program history to record 1,000 kills in her career when she recorded her second kill of the third set extending the Miner lead to 4-1. Haslag joins Erin Bekebrede (2008-11) and Julie Meyer (2008-09, 2012) as the only players to reach that plateau.

The first two sets went down to the wire as there were eight ties and four lead changes in the opening set and 19 ties and six lead changes in the second set. S&T finished the match hitting .252 percent and recorded 47 kills while holding Colorado Mesa (2-5) to a .167 attack percentage. The Mavericks finished the match with 48 kills but committed nine more errors than S&T.

Haslag finished with a match-high while Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) had eight kills, Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) and Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) added seven kills apiece. Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) had 33 assists while Jackie Pyles (White Lake, Mich./West Bloomfield) finished with 17 digs.

Mackenzie Edwards led CMU with 10 kills while Hattie Gianinetti and Caitie Breaux had eight kills each. Ali Svorinic finished with 35 assists while Kricket Adleman and Taylor Woods had 11 digs apiece.

In the championship match against Angelo State the Miners fell into an early hole in the opening set hitting just .033 while the Rambelles hit nearly 42 percent in cruising to a 25-11 opening set win. Mallory Blauser led a balanced Belles attack with four kills while Abbie Lynn, Brianna Sotello and Morgan Seaton had three kills each.

The second set turned into a nail biter with 19 ties and 10 lead changes. S&T held a 24-22 lead only to watch ASU rally to take a 25-24 lead on back-to-back kills from Zoey Hanrahan and another one from Blauser to force the Miners to call a timeout. After the break the two sides swapped points as S&T two more set points before scoring the final three points of the set on a kill by Haslag, a service ace by Dana Shannon (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) and an error by Blauser to even the match at a set apiece.

The Belles scored the first five points of the third set and eventually extended its lead to 10 points late in the set. The Miners weren't able to get any closer than two points in the frame as ASU hit 27.3 percent in the stanza to take the 2-1 match lead.

S&T answered back in the fourth set taking an early five point lead but the Belles eventually came back to it at 9. The Miners regained the lead scoring five of the next seven points and was able to hold ASU at arm's length eventually closing out the set with five straight five points to force a fifth and deciding set.

S&T gave up the first point in the finale but took control with a 6-1 run to build a four point advantage. The Belles cut the lead to 9-6 after a kill from Lynn; however that would be the closest they got as the Miners ended the match on a 6-2 run to take the set 15-8 and the match 3-2.

Haslag matched her career-high with 20 kills in the contest and was joined in double figures by Combs and Shelby Wagner (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) with 14 kills each. White dished out 55 assists which was three shy of tying a school record in a five-set match while Pyles had 27 digs.

Sotello led four Angelo State players in double figures with 17 kills while Blauser had 16, Hanrahan added 14 and Lynn finished with 10. Maggi Jo Keffury distributed out 57 assists while Katie MacLeay dug up 21 balls.  

S&T is back in action on Tuesday evening when it travels to Warrensburg, Mo., for a 6 p.m. contest against the Jennies of Central Missouri at the UCM Multi-Purpose Building.