ROLLA, Mo. – The Missouri S&T volleyball team was back on the court Friday night to start the weekend action against Southwest Baptist at Gibson Arena. The Miners (10-3, 4-1) controlled things for much of the match against the Bearcats (6-8, 2-4) en route to a straight set victory (25-23, 25-16, 25-21) to find the win column for the 10th time in 2021.
 
SBU scored the first two points of the night but before the Miners went on a 5-0 run led by Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) and Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, MO/Ste. Genevieve) to take their first lead of the evening. The Bearcats didn't let S&T pull away, coming back to tie things in the following points before another 5-0 Missouri S&T run spearheaded by Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and Avery Burton made it 11-6. The Miners pushed their lead up to seven at 15-8 but then the Bearcats went on the biggest run of the night, reeling off eight-straight points to take the lead and eventually led by three at 19-16. Undeterred, S&T stormed back to retake the lead behind a kill from Ply and three straight service aces from Gannaway at 21-20. The Bearcats briefly regained the lead at 22-21 but the Miners came back to close things out, scoring four of the last five points on kills from Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central), Ply and Burton to take the match 25-23.
 
Missouri S&T scored first on an attack miscue from SBU to open the second stanza of the night and the two sides exchanged points in the early going before the Miners broke things open, posting a 7-1 run starting at 5-4 to lead by seven at 12-5. The Bearcats managed a response and closed back within one at 14-13, but that was as close as they would get, as S&T took advantage of some miscues from SBU to reestablish the lead and retake control of the set at 18-13. Southwest Baptist had no answer for the Miners, who cruised through to the end of the set, again scoring four the last five points capped by kill by Ply to take the set 25-16 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Miners kept their foot on the gas as set three got underway, racing out to a 5-1 lead led by Burton. S&T took advantage of some errors by SBU and extended their lead to 12-5. The Bearcats then looked to rally and extend the match, going on a 7-1 run to get within one at 13-12 but couldn't quite get enough of an edge to take the lead. The Green & Gold weathered the storm, scoring eight of the next nine points the saw kills from Gannaway and Widiker and an ace from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy). A late SBU comeback attempt fell short as Widiker closed the night out with a kill to take the set 25-21 and close out the straight set win.
 
Burton led the way for the Miners on offense with 11 kills to her credit. Ply logged eight kills and was in on six blocks while Gannaway had seven kills, seven blocks and six digs. Widiker also tallied seven kills and six digs for the evening. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) finished the night with double-double, racking up 27 assists and 15 digs. As a team, S&T out blocked the Bearcats 11-6.
 
Up next for the Miners, they host William Jewell Saturday afternoon at 3 P.M. in Gibson Arena.