Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Miners used a balanced offensive attack to defeat Illinois Springfield in four sets on Friday evening at the Bullman M-P Building. The Miners (10-16, 5-9 GLVC) had four players finish in double figures in kills and recorded a season-high hitting percentage of .382 in the victory.
S&T stormed out of the gates scoring eight of the first nine points and never trailed in the opening set cruising to a 25-18 victory. The Prairie Stars (9-18, 2-12 GLVC) never got closer than five points in the frame as the Miners hit 31.2 percent in the stanza and recorded 14 kills against four errors.
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) had four kills in the set while
Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside),
Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva),
Shelby Wagner (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) and
Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) had two kills each.
The second set went back-and-forth featuring 11 ties and five lead changes. S&T led 15-12 and forced UIS to call a timeout. Out of the break the Prairie Stars went on a 6-2 run to take an 18-17 lead but the Miners regrouped countering the UIS run scoring five of the next seven points grabbing a 22-20 advantage on a kill from Combs. S&T wouldn't be able to close out the set as the Prairie Stars scored the final five points to win 25-22 and even the match at a set apiece heading into the intermission.
The Miners used and 8-3 run midway through the third set to break it open extending its lead from two to seven. S&T got double blocks from Thompson and Talley and Combs and Wagner in the run and Talley added a pair of kills as well. UIS wouldn't get closer than five points the rest of the frame as the Miners won 25-16. Talley recorded nearly half of her kills in the third frame to pace the attack.
The fourth set was nearly identical to the third with S&T holding a slight lead before going on a 9-2 run to bust it open. Thompson and Wagner had two kills each in the run and
Lauren Flowers (Ballwin, Mo./Lafayette) had a pair of service aces as well. The Prairie Stars again cut the deficit to five points but S&T was able to close it out scoring five of the last eight points to grab the 25-17 set win.
The Miners finished the match recording 64 kills against only 14 errors in the contest and were led by Combs with 14 kills.
Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) added 12 while Talley and Wagner finished with 11 each. White finished the match with 46 assists, six kills and nine digs and
Cydney Denning (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis ) had a match-high 15 digs.
Illinois Springfield was held to .180 attack percentage and was led by Alli Spitt with 10 kills. Emma Burkle, Ashley Beaton and Alyssa Hasler finished with eight kills each. Tiffany Wentworth and Lexi Hall each had 17 assists while Wentworth led the way with 12 digs.
S&T continues its homestand on Saturday hosting McKendree at 5 p.m.
