ROLLA, Mo. – Making their third postseason appearance in the last three seasons, the Missouri S&T volleyball team will take to the court at the Eastside Centre this weekend in East Peoria, Illinois for the 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference Volleyball Championship. The Miners, who finished second in the league's West Division behind Rockhurst, enter the event as the fourth seed and will match up against fifth-seeded Quincy Friday at 1 P.M.
 
Entering the tournament, the Miners (19-10, 12-6) rank among the top of the GLVC as a team in several categories, including kills (3rd, 1,490), assists (3rd, 1,346), total blocks (3rd, 268.0), opponent hitting percentage (4th, .171), and service aces (t-2nd, 179).
 
Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) is second in the GLVC in kills with 413 and service aces with 59, while Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) has 287 and ranks sixth in the league in kills per set with 3.15. Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) is third on the team with 387 kills and second with 94 total blocks, including 14 solos. Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) is next with 150 kills and has 17 service aces to her credit this season, while Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) is the final Miner over 100 kills this season, checking in with 131 while leading the team and the GLVC in total blocks with 123 and solo blocks with 25.
 
Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) is approaching the 1,000 assist mark and has 947 entering the postseason and is among the top 10 in the GLVC in assists per set with 8.46. Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) leads the team in digs with 416 followed by Merjil's 249. Gannaway ranks third with 212 with Widiker just over the 200-mark with 201, while Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) will surpass 200 digs in her next action, entering the postseason with 198.
 
Quincy (17-12, 11-7) finished second in the Central division this season four games back of division winner UMSL. Emily Rehagen leads the Hawks with 359 kills and is one of five players in triple digits this season, joined by Mattie Norris (255), Emma Wijnbergen (229), Sarah Brown (170) and Alyssa Grimm (141). Makayla Knoblauch is the primary setter for Quincy and has 925 assists this season, with America Galvin serving as the secondary setter with 112 assists. In the service game, Rehagen leads QU with 34 aces followed by Knoblauch with 21 while three other Hawks are in double-figures.
 
Galvan leads the team in digs with 444 and is followed by Rehagen with 295. Knoblauch checks in with 288 digs followed closed by Norris, while Kailey Owsley is the only other Hawk with over 100 digs on the season at 162. Up front, Sarah Brown's 70 blocks lead Quincy as one of eight players with at least 15 blocks this season. Grimm and Wijnbergen are next on the list with 49 and 43 while Elizabeth Lightner, Knoblauch and Norris are all over with 34, 32 and 31 respectively.
 
Quincy won the lone regular season matchup against the Miners this season in straight sets at Pepsi Arena back on September 25.