Evansville, Ind. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad snapped its three-match losing streak with a four set win over Southern Indiana on Friday night in Evansville, Ind. The Miners (9-15, 4-8 GLVC) got a great team defensive effort holding the Screaming Eagles (9-15, 3-9 GLVC) to .058 hitting percentage which was a season best for S&T. The previous best this season was when it limited Alderson Broaddus to .087 attack percentage at the Midwest Region Crossover two weeks ago.
The Miners used a 7-0 run early in the opening set to break an 8-8 tie to take control. USI closed the deficit to three on a couple of occasions but S&T held them at arms' length to win the opener 25-21. Both sides struggled to get their offenses going as the Miners hit only .093 in the frame while the Screaming Eagles were held to -.053 attack percentage.
Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) led S&T with four kills in the stanza.
The Miners trailed by five midway through the second set before going on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 18-17 and they forced Southern Indiana to use both of its timeouts during the run. The Screaming Eagles stretched the lead out to 21-19 but S&T countered with five straight points to take a 24-21 advantage and had three set points. The Miners committed back-to-back errors to bring USI to within 24-23 then
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) ended frame with a kill to give S&T a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission.
The Miners fell behind early again in set three but were able to come back and take a 20-18 after a double block by Combs and
Caroline Dykes (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) and a kill from Combs. S&T was unable to close it out though as the Eagles ended the set on a 7-1 run to win the stanza 25-21 and extend the match to a fourth set.
The Miners scored eight of the first 10 points in the fourth frame and led by as many as nine before USI began to chip away at the lead closing to 17-15 on a kill from Te ' Ayla Whitfield. S&T responded by scoring six of the next eight points to extend its lead to 23-17 on a solo block by Combs. The Miners then allowed three straight points to the Eagles before Combs quieted the run with a kill to give S&T four match points. USI staved off one match point on a kill from Shelbi Morris but couldn't stave off another one as a bad set by Quin Shoultz ended the match.
The Miners finished the match recording 50 kills against 29 errors in 186 chances for a .113 attack percentage. Combs finished with a match-high 16 kills with Thompson and
Shelby Wagner (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) adding nine kills each.
Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) dished out 41 assists and had 18 digs while
Eva Mich (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell Central) finished with a career-high 24 digs.
The Screaming Eagles registered only 43 kills in the contest against 33 errors in 173 chances. Whitfield and Morris led the team with 11 kills each. Shoultz dished out 33 assists and Shannon Farrell finished with a match-high 37 digs, 21 of those coming in the fourth set.
S&T concludes its four match road trip on Saturday afternoon traveling to Louisville, Ky., to take on Bellarmine in a 1 p.m. (CDT) match from Knights Hall.
