Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad overcame a 2-0 deficit winning the final three sets to defeat William Jewell 3-2 at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building on Saturday afternoon. It marked only the third time in school history that S&T (6-11, 3-6 GLVC) has overcome a 2-0 deficit and the second time it has done it against William Jewell.
The Cardinals (9-10, 3-6 GLVC) were on fire the first two sets hitting nearly 40 percent while recording 29 kills against only three errors in 66 chances. They also had 36 digs in the first two frames.
William Jewell scored the first six points to begin the match and led by as many as nine in the stanza winning the opener 25-16. Paige Cunningham and Grace Miller paced the offense with five kills each. The Cardinals scored the first five points of the second set and led by as many as 17 points on their way to a 25-10 win and the 2-0 lead.
WJC raced out to an early lead in set three and were up as many as five when the Miners began to mount their comeback. S&T used a 6-1 run to even the set at 11 on a kill from
Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) forcing the Cardinals to use a timeout. William Jewell regrouped and held a two-point lead late in the frame when the Miners went on a 4-1 run to grab a 21-20 lead after a Cardinal error. Jewell tied the frame at 21 on a bad set by
Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside). S&T finished the stanza strong scoring four of the final six points to win 25-23 to extend the match.
Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) had a couple of clutch kills in that rally.
The Miners fell behind early in set four before going on a 10-2 run to grab a six-point lead. Thompson and
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) combined for four kills in the run. The Cardinals didn't get closer than five points the rest of the set as S&T hit a blistering 41.2 percent and held the Jewell attack to just .029 hitting percentage. Thompson and
Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) had four kills each in the set while Combs added three.
The Miners carried that momentum over to set five scoring the first six points of the stanza, but the Cardinals were able to cut the lead to 8-6 after a pair of miscues by S&T. The Miners regained their composure scoring six of the next eight points to build a five point cushion. Jewell closed the margin to 14-10 but Thompson ended the match with a kill off of the Cardinal block that landed out of bounds.
S&T hit only .097 percent in the first two sets but came to life over the final three sets registering a .314 attack percentage and finished the match outhitting Jewell .226-to-.195. Thompson led three Miners in double figures with 15 kills while Combs and Talley added 11 and 10 kills respectively.
Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) handed out 47 assists and
Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) finished with 20 digs.
The Cardinals finished the match registering 50 kills against 18 errors in 164 chances and was led by Cunningham and Miller with 13 and 10 kills respectively. Alix Weigel dished out 23 assists while Stefanie Richterkessing and Olivia Toberd had 25 digs each.
S&T takes a break from conference play on Tuesday when it hosts Missouri Baptist at 7 p.m.
