Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Miner volleyball squad dropped its home opener to Upper Iowa on Thursday evening 3-0 (22-25, 22-25, 24-26). The Miners (1-4) finished the match hitting just .111 despite having the same number of kills as the Peacocks (5-0).

S&T led for the early portion of the opening set but a run by Upper Iowa midway through the set gave them a 17-12 advantage. The Miners trimmed the Peacock lead to three points but were unable to get any closer. UIU led by as many as six points in the opening stanza. Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) led S&T with five kills in the first stanza.

The Peacocks stormed out of the gates in the second set scoring eight of the first 10 points and forced the Miners to take an early timeout. S&T came back to tie the set at 15 then the two sides went back and forth over the next six points. Upper Iowa ran off three straight points to regain its advantage but the Miners rattled off three straight of its own and tied the frame on a kill from Kyley Thompson (Geneva, Ill./Geneva).
Haley Weepie gave Upper Iowa the lead back with a kill and then back to back errors by S&T gave the Peacocks set point. The Miners staved off one a set point on a kill by Caroline Dykes (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) but Anna Winter ended the set on the next swing to give UIU the 2-0 lead.

In the third set S&T built a five point lead midway through the set but a 6-0 run by the Peacocks gave them a 15-14 advantage. UIU took advantage of five Miner errors in that run. The two sides would trade the next 12 points until S&T got back-to-back points to take a 22-20 lead after two straight Peacock errors. After a timeout by Upper Iowa it proceeded to run off four straight points to get to match point. Ellen Schulz (Wildwood, Mo./Eureka) extended the match with a kill and then an error by Lauren Wombles evened the set up. The Miners were unable to capitalize though as Malissa LeClaire knocked down a kill and then Wombles ended the match on the next swing.

Claire Friedlund (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) led S&T with 12 kills in the contest while Schulz added nine and Combs finished with seven. Sarah McGinnis (Middleton, Wis./Edgewood) dished out 19 assists while Friedlund led the way with 13 digs.

The Miners are back in action on Friday afternoon taking on Christian Brothers at 12:30 p.m.