St. Charles, Mo. – The Missouri S&T women's volleyball started its 2018 season on a winning note as the Miners recorded a 3-1 victory (25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 25-17) over Urbana this Friday (Aug. 24) morning in the opening match of the Lindenwood Invitational at LU's Hyland Arena.
 
The Miners, who improved to 1-0 on the season, split the match's first two sets with the Blue Knights by identical 25-21 scores with S&T winning the opening one.  The Miners prevailed in the third set, 25-16, before claiming victory with a 25-17 in set four.
 
S&T was led offensively by a pair of seniors, outside Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and right-side hitter Ellen Schulz (Wildwood, Mo./Eureka).  Combs produced a match-high tying 13 kills while Schulz contributed 11 kills as the Miners tallied 41 kills in the contest and posted a .158 attack percentage to Urbana's .014 hitting efficiency. 
 
Combs turned in a solid all-around performance and generated a double-double as she added 12 digs to her 13-kills output and had a .152 attack percentage.  Schulz ended the match hitting .192 percent and freshman middle hitter Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) had three kills in five attempts for a .600 success rate.  

Leading S&T in digs was junior libero Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne), who totaled 16 as the Miners edged out Urbana 54-52 in the defensive statistical category.
 
Redshirt sophomore setter Sarah McGinnis (Middleton, Wis./Edgewood) distributed a match-most 25 assists to go with a match-most three service aces and chipped in with seven digs.  The Miners would take a 5-1 advantage in service aces.   

At the net, Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) accumulated seven block assists and had two solo blocks.  Junior outside hitter Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston) added four block assists.    
 
For Urbana, Madison Davis was the only Blue Knight to record double-digit kills with 13 as she concluded the match hitting at a .310 clip.  Courtney Niesen's match-high 19 digs was tops among three individuals, who garnered double-figure totals.   Jenna Franks and Hannah Delor each dug up 11 and 10 S&T ball strikes, respectively.  
 
Missouri S&T returns to the court this afternoon (Aug. 24) for its second Lindenwood Invitational appearance as the Miners square off against Southern Nazarene in a 5 p.m. (CT) tilt.