St. Joseph, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad split its final two matches in the Gold & Green Challenge on Saturday. S&T dropped a hard fought five set match to Minnesota State 3-2 and then bounced back with a straight set win over East Central University.

The Miners (3-5) and Mavericks (5-2) went back and forth in the opening set before S&T took control late in the frame to take the opener 25-21. The Miners hit .316 in the opening set and were led by Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston)'s six kills in the stanza.

In the second set Minnesota State broke used a 4-1 run midway through the second set to take control of the set. S&T would cut the deficit to 19-18 after a kill by Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) but weren't able to overtake the Mavericks as MSU closed the set on a 6-3 run to even the match at a set apiece.

The Miners fell behind by six midway through the third before going on a 9-2 run to take their only lead of the set at 20-19 on a kill from Caroline Dykes (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence). The Mavs answered right back with three straight points forcing S&T to call timeout. Krista Hassing, who had a match-high 28 kills, recorded the final two kills of the set to give Minnesota State the 25-22 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Miners were able to bounce back in the fourth set scoring six of the final seven points to win the set 25-20 and even the match at two sets each. Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) had six of her 18 kills in that fourth set. In the fifth and deciding set S&T fell behind early before climbing back to within 7-6 and forcing the Mavericks to take a timeout. The Miners couldn't maintain the momentum as the Mavs scored seven of the next eight points to take a 14-7 lead and eventually won 15-8.

S&T had an attack percentage of .241 for the match and recorded 59 kills. Friedlund and Schlader were the lone players in double figure kills with 18 and 13 respectively. Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) dished out 47 assists while Eva Mich (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell Central) had 16 digs.

The Mavericks finished the match with 72 kills, hit .297 percent and had three players reach double figure kill totals led by Hassing. Sydney Geisness and Sarah Kueh finished with 14 and 12 kills respectively. Autumn Risch distributed 59 set assists while Haley Fogarty had a match-high 30 digs.

Against East Central the Miners raced out of the gates to an early nine point lead in the opening set. The Tigers (2-6) fought back to within 19-16 but S&T was able to hold off the rally to take the opener 25-19.

The Miners and ECU went back and forth during the second set with neither side holding a lead of four points. S&T trailed by two late in the set but was able to use a late run to pull out the set win after a kill by Friedlund and a Tiger attack error.

In the third stanza the Miners broke open a close frame midway through the frame with a 6-1 run to take control of the set. East Central didn't go quietly closing to within 24-22 before S&T finished it off on a kill from Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) on an over ball to end the match.

Thompson led the Miners with 11 kills while Friedlund added 10 more. White had 31 assists and Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) had 17 digs.

The Miners play their first home matches of the 2016 season next weekend hosting Lewis and Wisconsin-Parkisde to open GLVC play. S&T will take on Lewis at 7 p.m. on Friday followed by a 2 p.m. match against the Rangers on Saturday afternoon.