Daytona Beach, Fla. – The Missouri S&T Miners dropped a pair of matches on Friday to open its 2017 season at the Bahama House Classic hosted by Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Miners dropped their season opener to Barry in straight sets and then fell in a five sets against Lynn.

Barry 3, Missouri S&T 0 (19-25, 25-27, 20-25)
S&T (0-2) got off to a good start in the opener scoring four of the first five points to begin the match but Barry (1-0) used a 9-3 run to gain capped by a Kristina Filimonova kill giving the Buccaneers their first lead of the contest. The Miners battled back to tie the set at 15 on a service ace from Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) before Barry ended the set on a 10-4 run to win the opener.

S&T got off to another good start in the middle frame scoring the first four points of the set and led 10-9 when the Bucs went on an 8-2 spurt to build a five-point cushion. The Miners battled back with an 11-4 run of their own to retake the lead at 23-21 on a kill from Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva). Barry answered back scoring the next three points to get to set point first but S&T staved two more set points before an ace from Filimonova gave the Buccaneers the set win and a 2-0 lead.

The Miners trailed by one midway through the third set before Barry scored nine of the next 14 points to build a five point lead. S&T battled back to within 21-20 but couldn't get over the hump as the Bucs scored the final four points of the match.

Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) led the Miner attack with seven kills while Thompson and Ellen Schulz (Wildwood, Mo./Eureka) added six apiece. Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside) dished out 14 assists and Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) finished with a match-high 17 digs.

Lynn 3, Missouri S&T 2 (22-25, 25-15, 28-26, 22-25, 12-15)
In its second match of the day S&T got off to a tough start offensively hitting just .077 percent in the opening frame. Despite their offensive woes the Miners held a 21-17 lead after back-to-back kills by Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) but were unable to close out the set as the Knights ended the stanza on an 8-1 run to win the frame.

After a couple of early ties in the second set, S&T took control with an 11-2 run and wouldn't look back en route to evening the match at a set apiece. Combs and Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) paced the Miner attack with four kills each in the frame while Schulz added three more. S&T hit nearly 47 percent in the stanza.

The third set saw nine ties but only one lead change as Lynn led for a majority of the middle set. The Miners trailed 23-19 before going on a 6-1 run paced by a pair of kills and an ace from Combs to take a 25-24 lead. After swapping points Talley and Friedlund teamed up for a block to give S&T a third set point and then Talley finished the set off with a kill to give the Miners a 2-1 lead.

S&T held a three-point lead midway through the four set but the Knights stormed back on an 11-1 run to take a 23-16 lead. The Miners trimmed the deficit to 24-22 but couldn't complete the comeback falling 25-22.

The final set featured seven ties and four lead changes. S&T led 8-7 at the changeover and were ahead 11-9 when Lynn responded with four straight points to regain the lead. The Miners got one of those points back on a kill by Friedlund but came up short as the Knights scored the final two points of the match.

Combs finished with a match-high 15 kills while Friedlund added 13. Thompson and Talley had nine kills each. Sarah McGinnis (Middleton, Wis./Edgewood) dished out 35 assists and Stulce had her second 17-dig match of the day.

S&T returns to action in the Bahama House Classic on Saturday taking on Oklahoma Baptist at 11 a.m. (CDT) and the hosts Embry-Riddle at 6 p.m. (CDT).