ROLLA, Mo. – After sweeping their final full weekend at the friendly confines of Gibson Arena, the Missouri S&T volleyball team returns to the road for a pair of matches against McKendree and Indianapolis. The Miners (15-7, 8-3) remain tied for first with Rockhurst atop the GLVC West Division while the Bearcats and Greyhounds are third and fifth the East Division respectively.
 
Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) eclipsed the 300-kill mark for the season over the weekend and enters play with 316 in 22 matches, good for second in the GLVC. Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) is now over 200 kills for the year with 210 while Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) is the other Miner north of 100 kills with 168.
 
Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) is among the GLVC leaders in assists with 700 on the season while Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) has 154 assists on the season. In the service game this season, S&T as a team has been among the best in the conference with 131 on the year, led by Gannaway with 45 and joined by Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) (17), Merjil (15), Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) (12) and Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) (11) with double-digit aces.
 
Pearson leads the team with 299 assists and is followed by Merjil with 184 and Gannaway with 167. Netherlain has 131 digs on the season while Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) has 126 to her credit. One of the best blocking teams in the GLVC, S&T has 201 blocks as a unit led by Ply with 79 and O'Boyle with 77. Gannaway has 56 blocks for the year, with a season-high nine coming Friday, while Merjil has 43.
 
McKendree (6-15, 2-8) has lost their last three matches and fell in straight sets to both UIndy and Southern Indiana last weekend. Colleen Preusser leads the Bearcats with 193 kills and is followed closely by Brianna Binder with 187. Claire Diercks and Hope Gramly are both over 100 kills as well, with 119 and 115 respectively.
 
Macy Tongate leads the team with 689 assists while Preusser leads in service aces with 23 and digs with 235. Skyler Sieber has 230 digs on the year and Binder enters the weekend with 207. Maddie Misner (199) and Tongate (172) are the only other Bearcats with triple-digit digs. Up front, Gramly is tops on the club with 46 blocks followed closely by Dierks with 42. Four other players have at least 20 blocks this season for McKendree.
 
UIndy (11-12, 7-4) fell to #21 Lewis 3-1 Sunday after winning over the Bearcats Friday. Grace Hegwood leads the team in kills with 264 and is joined by Lauren Cullison with 217 as the only two Greyhounds over 200 for the year. Elizabeth Eads isn't too far off with 193 while Grace Heppenbauer has 181 and Emma Jones has 134.
 
Alex Equihua leads the GLVC with 864 assists on the season and is one of six players for UIndy with at least 10 service aces. Gillian Santana and MaKenna Barnhart lead the team in that department with 18 while Madi Rosenberger has 17 while Hegwood and Eads have 14 and 11 each.
 
Defensively, Barnhart leads the way with 360 digs while Gillian has 276 and Equihua has 246. Hegwood (201) and Rosenberger (157) are the only other Greyhounds with over 100 digs on the season. As a unit, UIndy has 146 blocks and is led by Huppenbauer's 81 which is near the top of the GLVC. Elizabeth Eads has 45 as five other players have double-digit blocks on the year.
 
Earlier this season, S&T picked up a 3-2 win over the Greyhounds in the UIndy Invite in September while last season the Miners fell to the Bearcats 3-1 at the GLVC Tri-Match hosted by Lindenwood in St. Charles.