Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T women's volleyball team will make its first home appearances of the 2018 season this weekend (Sept. 7-8) as the Miners begin Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) action at S&T's Gibson Arena in Rolla. S&T, which plays a non-league contest this Tuesday (Sept. 4 ) night at Missouri Southern in Joplin, Mo., will square off against nationally sixth-ranked Rockhurst this Friday (Sept. 7) evening in both of its home conference opener. The Miners then close out the home weekend on Saturday (Sept. 8) afternoon as William Jewell provides the opposition.
2018 Record: S&T is currently 6-2 overall and 0-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) to date. The Miners, who are 5-1 at neutral sites, 1-1 on the road, and 0-0 at home, are off to their best start since the 2015 campaign when S&T went 6-2 following its initial eight contests. The Miners' 5-1 start this season is a school record which surpassed their 4-2 season-opening marks set by the 2010 and 2015 teams.
S&T Head Coach –
Andy Halaz (Rockhurst, 2008), 1st season, 6-2 (.750). Halaz is presently in his first season at S&T and began his current duties on Jan. 28 after serving as the director of marketing and was the outdoor director for High Performance STL Volleyball Club in St. Louis, Mo., since 2014. He coached one of the High Performance STL Volleyball Club's top teams while organizing the outdoor training program. Halaz was the lead court trainer and summer camp coordinator at Georgetown from 2009-14 after spending two seasons (2008 and 2009) at Saint Louis where he was an assistant coach and the director of volleyball operations. During his time at SLU, the Billikens won at least a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season championship and were NCAA Division I Tournament participants, including making a second-round appearance in 2008. Halaz also served as an assistant coach at Rockhurst for four seasons (2004-07) and helped the Hawks to four consecutive NCAA Division II Tourney appearances.
This Week's Opponents
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Missouri Southern: The Lions are presently 0-4 overall this season after dropping all four of their matches at the Central Missouri Peggy Martin Classic (Aug. 24-25) in Warrensburg, Mo. MSSU, which is coached by first-year head coach Kalie Mader, suffered a 3-1 loss to nationally fourth-ranked Florida Southern at the UCM Peggy Martin Classic in its most recent appearance (Aug. 25).
All-Time Series – S&T trails 2-0; Last Meeting - L 3-0 (9/13/08 at home).
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Rockhurst: RU, which is currently ranked sixth in the latest (Aug. 27) American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll, sports a current 7-1 record overall and is 0-0 in the GLVC this season. The Hawks, under 30th-year head coach Tracy Rietzke, compiled a 3-1 mark at its own Rockhurst Classic this past weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 1) at RU's Mason-Halpin Field House in Kansas City, Mo. In its most recent action, RU posted a 3-2 triumph over Northwest Missouri State last Saturday (Sept. 1) after having its season-opening six-match winning string snapped in a 3-2 loss to Emporia (Kan.) State in Saturday's (Sept. 1) first outing.
All-Time Series – S&T trails 14-4; Last Meeting - L 3-0 (9/30/17 at Kansas City, Mo.).
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William Jewell: The Cardinals, who are directed by fifth-year head coach Carolyn Raynes, are 2-6 overall and 0-0 in the GLVC after losing a 3-0 decision to Colorado Mesa last Saturday (Sept. 1) at the Rockhurst Invitational in Kansas City, Mo. WJC, which registered a 1-3 Rockhurst Invitational record this last weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 1), visits Drury this Friday (Sept. 7) in its GLVC opener before visiting Missouri S&T Saturday (Sept. 8).
All-Time Series – S&T leads 12-0; Last Meeting - W 3-2 (11/11/17 at Liberty, Mo.).
All-Time Record: The 2018 campaign represents S&T's 12th season of intercollegiate women's volleyball competition since the program's inception in 2007. The Miners have accumulated a 159-205 record (.437) to date. S&T has produced three 20 or more victories in a season – 24-10 in 2011, 22-11 in 2015, and 20-13 in 2012.
Conference Openers: S&T has posted a 6-3 record (.667) in conference-opening matches since the 2007 season. The Miners, who are 5-3 in conference-opening home outings, dropped a 3-2 home decision to Drury in last season's (Sept. 14) league opener. S&T has lost its last two conference-opening encounters to date after winning its previous five.
Home Openers: The Miners have registered a 6-5 mark (.545) in home openers dating back to the 2007 campaign. S&T suffered a 3-0 non-conference loss to Upper Iowa in its 2017 (Sept. 7) season home-opening match.
Combs Earns GLVC Weekly Honor: Senior outside hitter
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) was named this week's (Sept. 3) GLVC Women's Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week for her noteworthy performance at this last weekend's (Aug. 31-Sept. 1) Nova Southeastern Shark Invitational. Combs averaged a team-high 4.64 kills per set (65 total) while hitting for a .259 percentage to go along with 3.43 digs a set (48 total). She also recorded nine total blocks, which included eight block assists, and produced a squad-most six service aces as the Miners won three of their four tourney matches. Combs, who earned her first conference weekly award with the league selection, also totaled double-digit kills in all four NSU Shark Invitational contests.
Miner Notes: Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) became the fourth S&T player to reach the 1,000-career kills plateau and presently has accumulated 1,004 career total after notching 12 against Lynn (9/1) at the Nova Southeastern Shark Invitational. Combs is now 84 kills away from tying Julie Meyer (1,088; 2008-12) for third place on the Miners' all-time kills leader list ... Junior defensive specialist-libero
Corinne Stulce (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) extended her current season-opening double-figure digs match streak to eight straight with a personal season match-best tying 20 digs versus Lynn (9/1). Stulce, who has a generated a current squad-most 141 digs this campaign, is 33 shy of attaining 1,000 career digs...S&T's current top two kills leaders this season,
Carlie Combs (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) (108 kills) and junior outside hitter
Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston) (98 kills), have combined to account for 55.2 percent (206-373) of the team's output...
Emilee Schlader's (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston) match-high 21 kills in the 3-1 win at Nova Southeastern (8/31) is a career match high, eclipsing her 17 kills versus Upper Iowa (9/9) at the 2017 Missouri S&T Middle of Everywhere Classic.
2018 GLVC Volleyball Preseason Poll: S&T was picked 12th in the
2018 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Coaches Preseason Poll as the Miners received 55 points. Lewis was chosen as the conference's preseason favorite with 180 points and 11 first-place votes. Rockhurst picked up the other three first-place votes to go with a second-most 171 points. Rounding out the top five were Illinois Springfield (149 pts.), McKendree (128 pts.), and Bellarmine (125 pts.). Truman State (121 pts.) placed sixth proceeded by Missouri-St. Louis (115 pts.), and Indianapolis (105 pts.). Drury (99 pts.) and Southern Indiana (72 pts.) garnered ninth and 10th place, respectively. Quincy (62 pts.) finished in 11th place while Missouri S&T was 12th. The final two placings in the 14-team league poll were occupied by William Jewell (48 pts.) and Maryville (26 pts.).
2018 S&T Roster: Missouri S&T's 2018 active roster consists of three seniors, four juniors and sophomores apiece, and five freshmen. Six of the 16 student-athletes play either the outside or right-side hitter position while four others are middle hitters, three setters, two defensive specialists, and one libero. Eight individuals hail from the state of Missouri and two from Kansas.
2018 S&T Captains: Serving as S&T's captains for the 2018 season are
Carson Talley (St. Louis, Mo./Affton) and
Emilee Schlader (Lewiston, Idaho/Lewiston).
What Returns For 2018: Below is a look at the 2017 statistical totals of the returnees and what percentage of the team totals they accounted for:
2017 Total 2018 Returning %Returning
Kills 1,407 1,006 71.5
Aces 72 45 62.5
Digs 1,981 1,431 72.2
Blocks 189.0 162.0 85.7
2017 Record: S&T concluded the 2017 season with a 10-21 overall record, which included a fifth-place 3-15 GLVC West Division mark.
GLVC Standings/Schedule/Statistics: Fans can view the complete 2018 GLVC Standings at this link -
GLVC Standings. The composite 2018 conference women's volleyball schedule can be accessed at this link -
GLVC Schedule and the GLVC women's volleyball statistics at this link -
GLVC Statistics.
Follow The GLVC: Fans can follow @GLVCsports on
Twitter,
Instagram, and
Facebook using hashtag #GLVCvb. Complete coverage of all conference matches throughout the 2018 season can be accessed on
GLVCSN.com.
NCAA II Statistics: Both the NCAA Division II 2018 team and individual national statistical leaders is available at this link -
NCAA Statistics.
AVCA Poll : The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Coaches 2018 Top 25 Poll is available at this link -
AVCA D2 Coaches Top 25 Poll.
Up Next: Missouri S&T continues GLVC play next weekend, Sept. 14-15, in St. Louis, Mo. The Miners face the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons Friday, Sept. 14, in a 7 p.m. (CT) contest at UMSL's Mark Twain Building. S&T wraps up its weekend play Saturday, Sept. 15, versus the Maryville Saints at MU's Moloney Arena. A 3 p.m. (CT) start time is slated for the conference encounter.
