Daytona Beach, Fla. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad took the opening set in its match against Embry-Riddle before falling 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 22-25, 19-25) on Saturday evening in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Miners (1-3) recorded 31 kills against only 11 errors in the first two sets but in the last two sets were held to just 18 kills.

S&T built a seven point lead midway through the opening set and forced the Eagles to take a timeout. After the break, ERAU responded with an 11-6 run to cut the Miner lead to 22-20 after a block by Ella Duggan. The Eagles gave the point back on the next swing on attack error by Theresa Jordan but then scored the next two points to make it 23-22 and forced S&T to take a timeout. Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) gave the Miners set point with a kill and then after another kill by Embry-Riddle, Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) finished off the set with a kill.

The Eagles soared out of the gates in the second set scoring nine of the first 12 points and didn't look back. S&T cut the deficit to two on a couple of occasions but were unable to get closer than that as ERAU closed the set on a 9-4 run to even the match at a set each.

The Miners raced out to an early lead in the third stanza scoring six of the first eight points but a 9-2 run by the Eagles gave them the lead. They stretched their lead 17-13 after an error by Combs but S&T responded with a 5-1 run to square the frame at 18-all on a kill by Alexis White (Auburn, Wash./Riverside). After a timeout Embry-Riddle went on a 6-2 run to take a 24-20 lead. The Miners fought off two set points but couldn't extend the match as Duggan knocked down a kill to end the set.

The fourth set was tight early before the Eagles began to slowly pull away building a six-point lead midway through the frame. S&T cut the deficit to 17-14 after an ace from White but Embry-Riddle countered by scoring seven of the next 11 points to get to match point. A service error by the Eagles gave the Miners a chance but a ball handling error by Sarah McGinnis (Middleton, Wis./Edgewood) ended the match.

Talley led S&T with 12 kills while Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston) added 10. McGinnis dished out 22 assists and Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) finished with 19 digs. The Miners finished the match with a .156 hitting percentage.

Erika Barbour led Embry-Riddle with a match-high 17 kills and was joined in double figures by Melanie Canfield with 12 kills while Paola Virella had 10 kills. Alyssa Rudd dished out a match-high 46 assists and Olivia Roa had a match-high 25 digs.

S&T opens the home portion of its 2017 schedule on Thursday night hosting Upper Iowa at 6 p.m.