LEBANON, Ill. – The Missouri S&T volleyball team took to the road for the first of five matches away from the friendly confines of home as they lined up opposite McKendree Friday night. Despite taking the first set of the evening, the Miners (15-8, 8-4) struggled to find their rhythm against the Bearcats (7-15, 3-8), as they rallied late to force a fifth set but were unable to secure the win, falling 3-2 (25-16, 25-27, 25-21, 25-14, 12-15).
 
McKendree opened the night with a 4-0 run to briefly lead before S&T roared back with five of their own behind tow kills from Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) to take their first lead of the match. The two sides battled back-and-forth for much of the set until the Miners managed to pull ahead with a 7-0 run behind three kills from Burton and another from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) to make it 20-13. The Bearcats were able to get back within five but not closer as the Miners scored five of the final six and closed the set out with an Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) kill to win 25-16.
 
The Green & Gold scored first in set two but their lead was short-lived as McKendree scored the next four to take the lead. The Bearcats maintained their advantage as the set progressed and kept the Miners at arm's length until the late going. With the Bearcats leading 24-20 and serving for set point, S&T stormed back to tie the set at 24 and take the lead just one point later, taking advantage of some errors by the home team while getting a kill from O'Boyle and an ace from Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan). However, McKendree managed to answer and scored the next three to take the set 27-25 and the match a set apiece.
 
The Bearcats led from the outset in set three, racing out to a 10-1 lead before the Miners managed to stop the run and manage some points of their own. S&T was able to get within four at 12-8, but McKendree continued to lead and withstood a late push led by Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) to take the set 25-21 and lead the match 2-1.
 
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) got the Miners on the board first in set four as this time it was S&T that took the early lead, scoring 10 of the first 15 points, getting kills from Gannaway, Burton, Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) and aces from Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) and Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial). S&T kept their foot on the gas as the set progressed, hitting .364 en route to a convincing 25-14 win to even the match at 2-2 and force a fifth set.
 
S&T scored first but the big run came from the Bearcats who scored five of the next six points to take the lead 5-2. Kills from O'Boyle and Widiker sandwiched around an error evened things up, as the two sides battled for momentum. The Miners scored three-straight to lead 10-9 after a kill from Ply, but McKendree answered with four of their own to regain the lead at 13-10. The next two points went of the way of the Miners but the Bearcats held on to score the final two points of the night and take the set 15-12 to win the match in five sets.
 
Burton and Gannaway finished with 12 kills each with the latter also posting a double-double with 10 digs. Ply posted an 11-kill night while O'Boyle logged nine blocks, including a pair of solos. Merjil dished out 33 assists and recorded 13 digs to post another double-double, while Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) saw some extended time tonight and recorded 12 assists. Pearson led the way in digs with an even 20.
 
The Miners will look to rebound as they head north to Indianapolis to for their second match of the season against UIndy. First serve is scheduled for 2 P.M. Central Time.