ROLLA, Mo. – The comforts of home were in full effect Friday night at Gibson Arena for the Missouri S&T volleyball team as they began the second half of the Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule opposite Maryville. The Miners (14-7, 7-3) were in control from start to finish, dispatching the Saints (8-12, 1-8) in straight sets (25-12, 25-18, 25-14) to improve to 9-2 at home this season.
 
Maryville scored first but their lead was short-lived as the next four points went to the Miners, with two coming on Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) aces. After exchanging points and with S&T leading by one a 6-5, Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) opened up a 9-3 run that saw the lead stretch to 15-8. Abigial Widiker, Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) and Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) all got in on the actions as S&T continued to pull away over the remainder of the set, scoring 10 of the final 12 points to take set one 25-12.
 
The Saints again scored first to open set two, but 10 of the next 11 points went the way of the Green & Gold behind a flurry of kills from Burton along with O'Boyle and Gannaway to lead 10-2. The Miners managed to keep Maryville at arm's length until the visitors managed to close to within a pair at 18-16, but S&T wouldn't have any of that, as they scored back-to-back points to make it 20-16 before turning to Widiker, O'Boyle and Gannaway to finish off the set with a 25-18 win.
 
S&T led from start to end in the final frame of the night. Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) opened the scoring before the Miners extended their lead behind a series of Maryville errors. Kills from Burton and Gannaway along with a Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) aces made it a five-point lead a 7-2. The Saints managed to gain some momentum and were able to get within two at 9-7 before S&T poured it on, scoring the next five on three kills, an ace and an error to double up MU at 14-7. The Miners continued to go about their business as the evening started to wrap up, pushing the lead up to double-digits and closing out the night with a kill from Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka) to cap a 25-14 win.
 
Burton and Gannaway finished with 10 kills each while O'Boyle added seven and was in on a season-high nine blocks. Widker finished with 14 digs and five kills while Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) turned in a double-double with 33 assists and 10 digs along with three aces. Pearson also logged 10 digs and a pair of aces.
 
The Miners wrap up the weekend Saturday afternoon with a match against Lindenwood at 3 P.M. Missouri S&T will recognize the seniors on this year's team with a pre-match ceremony to celebrate their careers in a Miner uniform.