Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Miners dropped its Great Lakes Valley Conference opener to Drury 3-2 (29-27, 18-25, 25-20, 16-25, 12-15) on Thursday evening in Rolla. The Miners (4-6, 0-1 GLVC) finished the match with 59 kills but had a hard time slowing down the Panthers (8-1, 1-0 GLVC) Sarah Kite who had a match high 27 kills.

The opening set was a tight one with 14 ties and three lead changes as the two sides went back-and-forth. S&T held a 22-20 lead after a kill by Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) but Drury responded with three of the next four points to even the frame at 23 on a kill from Paige Perry. Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) gave the Miners the lead back and a set point with her fifth kill of the stanza. S&T had four set points before eventually closing the frame out on an error by Faith Alwardt.

The Panthers dominated the second set racing out to a 9-2 lead and didn't look back. The Miners got as close as 16-14 after a kill from Thompson but the Panthers hit back with another long run closing the stanza on a 9-4 run to even the match at a set each. Kite and Perry paced the Drury attack with five kills each in the set as the Panthers had an attack percentage of .250 in the frame.

S&T built a seven point advantage midway through set three and then had to withstand a late Panther rally to win the middle set 25-20. Combs and Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston) combined for 11 of the Miners 16 kills in the set as S&T had a hitting percentage of .229 and held the Drury offense to a .143 hitting percentage.

The fourth stanza was tied at 10 but Drury used a 10-4 run to take control of the frame. Emalee Chrest came off the Panther bench to provide a spark recording four kills in that decisive run. The Miners cut the deficit to five but Drury scored five of the final six points to win 25-16 and force a winner take all fifth set.

The Panthers stormed out of the gates in set five taking an early 9-3 lead. S&T fought back eventually getting to 13-11 on a kill from Thompson but were unable to complete the comeback as the Panthers scored two of the last three points to earn the victory.

The Miners had a hitting percentage of .183 for the contest and had four players reach double figures in kills. Combs and Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) had 13 kills each while Thompson and Schlader had 12 and 11 kills respectively. Sarah McGinnis (Middleton, Wis./Edgewood) dished out 28 assists and Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) had 18 digs.

Kite was joined in double figures by Perry with 11 kills. Kendra Sater dished out 55 assists while Bree Schmidt had a match-high 28 digs.

S&T returns to action on Saturday traveling to Evansville, Ind., for a 3 p.m. contest at Southern Indiana.