Portland, Ore. – The 2016 season didn't start the way the Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad had hoped as it dropped two matches on Friday at the Concordia-Portland Labor Day Tournament in Portland, Ore. The Miners opened the season with a 3-0 loss to Embry-Riddle and then dropped a straight sets decision to Florida Southern in the nightcap.

In the opener on Friday, the Miners trailed by one before Embry-Riddle went on an 11-4 run to take control of the opening set. S&T was able to cut the deficit to 23-18 on a service ace by Eva Mich (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell Central) couldn't any closer as the Eagles scored back-to-back points to take the frame 25-18.

A 9-0 run midway through the second set extended the ERAU lead from 16-14 to 23-14 as the Miners committed four errors during that run and had a service reception error. The Eagles only hit .182 in the stanza but held S&T to .000 hitting percentage.

Embry-Riddle raced out to an early seven point lead to begin set three but the Miners were able to battle back thanks to an 8-1 run and tied it at 13 on a double block from Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) and Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton). After a timeout, the Eagles regrouped using a 7-1 run to build a six-point lead and would eventually win the set 25-17.

S&T's offense recorded 37 kills in the contest but committed 22 errors to finish with an attack percentage of .129. Thompson had a match high 10 kills while Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) had 25 assists and 14 digs. Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) also had 16 digs.

Embry-Riddle had just 36 kills but made just seven errors to finish the match with a .282 hitting percentage. Paola Virella led the Eagles with nine kills while McKenna James and Asya Oguz had eight kills each. Jordan Nakayama had 17 assists and Maile Spenser dug up 19 attacks.

In the nightcap against Florida Southern the Miners started the match hot scoring four of the first five points and didn't let up stretching its lead to 20-13. The Moccasins (3-1) the rattled off five straight to close within 20-18 and forced S&T to take a timeout. The Miners responded out of the break scoring three of five points to build a 23-20 but were unable to close it out as Florida Southern scored the final five points to take the opener 25-23.

S&T trailed by as many as six in the middle frame but were able to cut the lead 19-16 after an attack error by the Mocs. That would be the closest they got though as FSC closed out the set scoring six of the last nine points to take the stanza 25-19. The Miners couldn't contain the Moccasin offense in the frame is they recorded 17 kills against four errors to hit .325.

Florida Southern used a 7-3 surge midway through the third set to take a four point lead but S&T wouldn't go away rattling off eight of the next 12 points to get within 21-20 on a ball handling error by the Mocs.
However, S&T was unable to complete the rally as Florida Southern held on for the 25-21 win.

Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) finished with a match high 18 kills while Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston) added seven kills and Thompson finished with six kills. Sarah McGinnis (Middleton, Wis./Edgewood) dished out 17 assists while Stulce had a career-high 21 digs.

Anna Tovo led the Moccasins with 14 kills. Rachel Mostert and Nicole Mattson had seven kills each. Bethany Besancenez had 37 assists while Brindi Langley finished with 14 digs.

The Miners play two more games on Saturday taking on Metro State (Colo.) at 2 p.m. (CDT) and will then play the hosts Concordia-Portland at 9:30 p.m. (CDT).