Springfield, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners couldn't dig out of an early hole in its four set loss at Drury on Tuesday evening at the O'Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield. Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) was the lone Miner to reach double figures with 18 kills while Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) chipped in with nine kills.

The first set was tightly contested with 11 ties and four lead changes. Drury (11-5, 5-2 GLVC) built a six point advantage midway through the set but S&T (5-10, 2-5 GLVC) fought back thanks to an 11-5 run to tie the set at 21 on a kill by Caroline Dykes (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence). The Panthers regained the lead with back-to-back kills from Tori Foster and Bentley Mara and forced the Miners to use their second timeout of the frame. S&T fought back again tying it on a service ace from Dykes but Drury scored three of the final four points to take the opener 26-24.

The Miners had an uphill climb in the second set getting down big early but began to chip away at the lead and eventually closed to within 21-20 on a kill from Talley. S&T wasn't able to get over the hump though as the Panthers scored the final four points to take the set 25-20 and a 2-0 lead into the break.

The Miners jumped out to a big lead midway through the third set before Drury rallied and eventually took a 15-14 lead. S&T regrouped scoring six of the next seven points to grab a 20-16 advantage on a kill by Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic). The Panthers trimmed the lead to 22-20 but the Miners were able to hold off the late rally scoring the final three points of the frame to win 25-20 and force a fourth set.

Drury scored seven of the first 10 points of set four but S&T responded by scoring seven of the next 10 to even the stanza at 10 on a kill from Talley. The two sides swapped the next 10 points and remained tied at 15 when the Panthers pulled away with nine straight points to take control and went on to win 25-16.

The Miners finished the match with 50 kills against 24 errors in 171 swings and had a hitting percentage of .152. The 18 kills from Talley were a match high while Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) handed out 37 assists and Eva Mich (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell Central) and Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) had 19 digs each.

Drury tallied 53 kills against 24 errors in 168 attacks to finish with an attack percentage of .173. Emmalee Chrest led the Panthers with 14 kills while Mara added 12 kills. Brooke Antenen dished out 31 assists and McKenna Poynter had a match high 24 digs.

S&T returns home to begin a three-match homestand on Friday night hosting Rockhurst at 7 p.m.