Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad concludes its five-match homestand hosting Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville this weekend to close out the season. The Miners (10-18, 5-11 GLVC) host the Tritons on Friday at 7 pm and then on Saturday takes on the Saints and 3 p.m. Saturday's match will also be Senior Day with S&T honoring its five seniors prior to the start of the match.
The Miners look to bounce back from a couple of tough losses to McKendree and Drury when they host UMSL on Friday and look to avenge a five-set loss to the Tritons earlier this season in St. Louis. S&T dropped the first two sets in that contest then came back to win the next two before dropping the finale 15-13.
Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) led the Miners with 20 kills in that contest while
Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) and
Caroline Dykes (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) dropped in 14 kills each.
Offensively, S&T is hitting .182 percent and is averaging nearly 13 kills per set while allowing its opponents to hit .199 percent and average 13.1 kills per set.
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) leads the Miner attack averaging nearly 2.9 kills per set while Friedlund is dropping in 2.73 kills/set and Talley is contributing 2.39 kills per set to the attack. Dykes and
Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) are also averaging over two kills per set with 2.07 and 2.01 respectively.
Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) is dishing out over 10 assists per set and
Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) is averaging 4.43 digs per set.
Cydney Denning (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis ) is averaging 3.14 digs/set and moved into second place in the career dig column with her 27 digs against Drury. She has recorded 1,254 digs in her four year career.
Missouri-St. Louis enters Friday's match with a record of 16-11, 10-6 in the GLVC and has won three straight after defeating crosstown rival Maryville in four sets on Tuesday evening. The Tritons currently sit a game behind Truman State for second place in the West Division and are in a three-way tie with Quincy and Drury for the third and final automatic spot into the GLVC Tournament from the West Division.
UMSL, as a team, is hitting .186 percent for the season and is averaging 12.4 kills per set while allowing its opponents to just .170 percent but have are allowing 12.6 kills per set. The Tritons are averaging 2.2 blocks and 16.2 digs per set. UMSL has gone 6-1 in five set matches this season.
Selena Nolte leads a balanced Triton attack averaging 2.50 kills per set while Lexi Rogers is averaging 2.41 kills per set and Kylie Rudsinski is dropping in 2.07 per set. Madyson Abeyta and Kendall Buchman split time at the setter spot averaging 5.65 and 4.69 assists per set respectively. Danielle Waedekin is one of the top defensive players in the GLVC averaging 5.35 digs per set.
The Miners and Saints will do battle for a second time this year on Saturday with S&T winning the first contest in five sets back on Sept. 30. The two sides split the first four sets and then the Miners had to overcome a four point deficit to defeat Maryville in the finale. S&T scored the final three points of the match after trailing 14-13 to grab the victory.
The Saints enter play this weekend with a record of 4-25, 2-14 GLVC heading into Friday's match at Drury. Allison Lakin leads the Maryville attack averaging 2.8 kills per set and Ashley Selman is averaging 2.4 kills/set. Kayla Buxton and Michelle Escue are the primary setters for the Saints with 4.69 and 4.38 assists per set respectively. Makayla Campbell leads the team with 310 digs and is averaging 3.04 per set.
