HAMMOND, Ind. – It was day one of the 2021 Midwest Regional Crossover Tournament Friday at the Hammond Sportsplex as the Missouri S&T volleyball team opened their weekend with a pair of foes from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. The Miners (13-6) went the distance in both of their matches on day one, knocking off Saginaw Valley State (12-5) 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 13-25, 22-25, 15-13) before falling to 25th-ranked Michigan Tech (14-4) 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 17-25, 13-15).
 
SVSU scored the first point of the match but their initial lead would be short-lived as the Miners scored seven of the first 10 points of the match, including five straight at one point led by Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) to lead 7-3. S&T continued to keep the Cardinals at bay until a 7-2 run tied the set at 16-16. Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) recorded a kill to put the Miners back in front and was followed by a Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) ace and a Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) kill to make it a three-point lead. Again, Saginaw Valley rallied but couldn't manage to even things up, as S&T scored the last four points to win 25-20.
 
The Cardinals opened set two with three-straight points before Missouri S&T regrouped and settled back in as the two sides battled back-and-forth in the early going. Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) took control midway through the set, scoring four of seven points for S&T during one sequence to make it 15-12. SVSU hung tough, however, and battled back to retake the lead at 18-16. Again the teams traded points heading into the final stages of the set until the Miners retook the lead 23-21 behind kills from Gannaway and Brooke McCartney (Lincoln, NE/Lincoln East) along with a Cardinal error, using that burst to go on to a 25-23 win and lead the match 2-0.
 
Looking to extend the match, Saginaw Valley was up against it as set three began and after things started out close, the Cardinals used a 10-1 run to surge in front 16-7. S&T managed to get within six at 18-12 following a kill from Widiker but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Cardinals scored the final six points of the set to win 25-13 and get on the board in the match.
 
After a disappointing set three, the first four points of the fourth frame went the way of the Miners led by Ply and Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial). A 7-0 run by the Cardinals gave them their first lead of the set at 8-5 but S&T battled back, scoring seven of 10 at one point to retake the lead 14-13. Saginaw Valley would not go away though, as they continued to battle back ahead to lead 19-17 as the set entered the closing stages. A late push from the Miners led by Merjil and Gannaway got S&T within one at 23-22, but no further as the Cardinals tied the match with a 25-22 win.
 
With momentum on their side, set five saw Saginaw Valley score seven of the first 10 points in the deciding set to lead 7-3. Kills by Gannaway, Mason and Offerman coupled with some SVSU miscues allowed the Miners to tied things at 8-8 before a Widiker kill and another Cardinal error gave S&T the lead 10-9. After briefly surrendering the lead, Widiker put S&T back ahead with back-to-back kills before Gannaway and Ply closed the set out 15-13 to win the match 3-2.
 
Gannaway led S&T with 17 kills in the match and added four digs and an ace, while Ply logged 15 kills and hit an eye-popping .538 for the match and was in on five blocks. Mason posted 13 kills while Widiker posted a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs. Merjil recorded her second 50-assist match of the season, dishing out 52 and posting a double-double with 11 digs while also adding two blocks, and Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) led the team with 18 assists.
 
In the nightcap, S&T opened the scoring with a kill from Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) and led through the early going of the first set. Michigan Tech kept close with the Miners, however, not allowing the lead to grow out of reach as they eventually tied the set at 9-9. Seven of the next 10 points fell the way of S&T as part of a run started with back-to-back kills from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) that saw S&T reclaim the lead 16-12. The Green & Gold continued to lead and held off a late surge by the Huskies to take the opener 25-23.
 
Again in set two, Missouri S&T found the scoreboard first but their lead didn't last long as Michigan Tech soon took their first lead of the night at 7-5. A trio of MTU errors and an ace from Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) put S&T back ahead 9-7 as a battle ensued for control of the match in the points that followed. Back-to-back kills by Widiker made it 12-11 S&T before the Huskies scored the next four to regain control. What followed was a 7-2 run from the Miners that saw five errors from Michigan Tech and a pair of Gannaway kills to make it 19-17 S&T. MTU then scored the next six to take the lead for good and hold off the Miners to even the match with a 25-23 win.
 
Missouri S&T raced out to a 4-0 in set three led by Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) and Widiker before MTU managed to get on the board to stop the run. Unable to pull away, the Huskies clawed back and tied the set at 7-7 before taking charge to lead 11-8. More errors from Michigan Tech allowed S&T to stay close as the set progressed and the two sides traded points through the middle stages of the action. S&T gained the upper hand late and retook the lead on a kill from Gannaway at 20-19 before going on to take the set 25-22 and lead the match 2-1.
 
Michigan Tech scored early and often in the beginning of set four and never let off the gas. The Huskies led by as much as 10 at 18-8 but the Miners attempted a late rally to try and knock off one of the newest additions to the Top 25, scoring eight points late on kills from Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla), Isabelle Monaco (O'Fallon, MO/Living Word Christian) and Mason, but it wasn't enough as MTU took the set 25-17 to again tie the match.
 
Mason got the Miners off to a quick start in the final frame of the night, registering three quick kills to put S&T ahead 4-1. The lead for S&T grew to five at 9-4 after a Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) ace, but the Huskies showed the grit of a Top 25 team, as they slowly erased the deficit to tie things late before taking the lead and closing out the evening 15-13 to take the match 3-2.
 
Mason led the Miners with a season-best 17 kills and added four blocks, while Gannaway finished with 13 kills, six digs and five blocks. Widiker posted her second double-double of the day with 10 kills and 13 digs with Ply also posting 10 kills along with five blocks. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) also recorded another double-double with 41 assists and 11 digs while Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) led the team with six blocks to go with five kills. Pearson again led the way with 19 digs.
 
The Miners close out the weekend with a matchup against Walsh Saturday scheduled for 12:45 P.M.