Aurora, Ill. – The Missouri S&T Miners attempt to come back from a 2-0 deficit came up a couple of points short in a five set loss to Ashland on Saturday afternoon at the ninth annual Midwest Region Crossover at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill. The Miners hit a combined .311 in sets three and four after hitting just .114 in the first two sets.

S&T (8-13) held an early lead but couldn't maintain it as the Eagles (13-8) hit nearly 46 percent in the frame and held the Miners to a negative hitting percentage. Ashland used an 8-0 run midway through the opener to extend a 15-11 lead to 23-11 and went on to take the opener 25-12.

The second set saw 14 ties and three lead changes. S&T got out of the gates strong scoring four of the first five points but were unable to maintain the lead. The two sides went back-and-forth and were tied at 22 after a block by Caroline Dykes (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence). The Eagles closed out the set scoring three of the final four points to win 25-23 and take the 2-0 lead.

S&T led for a majority of set three before Ashland made a late comeback attempt but the Miners were able to hold them off to win 25-22 to extend the match to a fourth set. Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) combined for 11 of S&T's 18 kills in the frame.

The Miners dominated set four scoring eight of the first 10 points to begin the frame and wouldn't look back on its way to a 25-11 win and forced the winner take finale. S&T hit .357 percent in the stanza registering 13 kills against just three errors. Combs had four of the kills with Friedlund, Dykes and Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) adding two each.

The final set was back-and-forth the entire way with neither side leading by more than two points. Ashland held a 13-12 lead after a kill by Casey Clark before giving right back on a service error to knot the set at 13. S&T couldn't capitalize though as the Eagles scored the final two points of the match to win 15-13.

Combs led the Miners with 17 kills while Friedlund added 13 and Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) and Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) had nine kills each. White handed out 54 assists and Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) had 17 digs.

Ashland was led by Alli Cudworth with 18 kills and was joined in double figures by Clark with 14 kills and Shelby Woycik with 11 kills. Kayla Pfeiffer distributed 42 assists while Kaitlin Bean and Melanie Aguayo had 15 digs each.

S&T is back in action next Friday traveling to Quincy, Ill., to take on the Quincy Hawks in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match beginning at 7 p.m.