ROLLA, Mo. – Looking rebound after their first two matches of a five-match road trip, the Missouri S&T volleyball team will head west this weekend for a pair of matches in the Kansas City area, first taking the court against William Jewell Friday before lining up opposite Rockhurst for the first time this season Saturday. Following those matches, S&T will make the return trip to Southwest Baptist for the final midweek match of the season.
 
The Miners (15-9, 8-5) dropped matches to McKendree and Indianapolis last weekend by scores of 3-2 and 3-0 and now currently sit second in the GLVC West division. Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) continues to lead the offense and is up to 340 kills this season and ranks among the top 20 nationally in that category this season. Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) is second on the team with 229 kills and is followed by Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) (186), Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) (108) and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) (102). Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) has dished out 760 this season while Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) saw more action this weekend and now has 171 assists on the campaign. Gannaway's 47 service aces are second in the GLVC and are also tied for ninth nationally this year. As a team, S&T has 140 aces this season.
 
Defensively, Meiko Pearson's (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) 335 digs lead the club while Merjil cleared the 200-mark for the season and has 204 to her credit. Gannaway enters the weekend with 179 digs and is followed by Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) (149) and  Widiker (143). O'Boyle retook the team lead in blocks over the weekend and now has 89 for the season, including 17 solo blocks. Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) is close behind with 83 blocks, 12 of which are solos. As a team, the Miners have 218 total blocks, which ranks second in the GLVC and ninth in NCAA Division II this season.

William Jewell (7-19, 2-15) fell in midweek action 3-2 to Rockhurst Tuesday at home in the Mabee Center. Lily Johnson leads the Cardinals with 192 kills and is followed closely by Katy Garrison at 188. Bella LaPorta (180), Anna Godfredsen (156) and Chloe Robison (116) are the other three players for WJC with over 100 kills. Hannah Cope's 481 assists lead the team while Samantha Thompson has 323 to her credit. Thompson leads WJC with 18 service aces and is one of six players with at least 10 aces this season.
 
Defensively, Jordan Collard has 364 assists to lead the team while Haidan Baade is second with 220. Three other Cardinals have 100 or more digs with a fourth knocking on the door. Robison leads the team with 82 blocks up front while Johnson has 77, including a team best 13 solo efforts. Five other players for William Jewell have double-digit blocks, with four posting 28 or more.
 
Rockhurst (16-9, 9-4) has won five of their last six matches, falling last Saturday to #21 Lewis 3-2 before rebounding with a 3-2 win over William Jewell Tuesday night. Averi Vomastic is one kill shy of 300 on the season with 299 which leads the team while Justice Wingate is the only other player for RU north of 200 with 206. Tera Reberry (189) and Morgan Conner (145) are the only other players for Rockhurst with triple-digit kills this season. Gabbie Inman and Sarah Montague split setting duties and have 513 and 435 assists respectively. Maureen Reilly has also seen time and has 105 assists on the season while leading the team with 25 service aces followed by Vomastic (23) and Inman (20).
 
Defensively, six different players have over 100 digs for Rockhurst this season led by Reilly's 479, while Inman and Vomastic are both over 200 on the season. Up front, Wingate leads with team with 91 blocks, 15 of which are solos, while five other players have more than 40 blocks this season. As a team, Rockhurst has 227 blocks on the season.
 
Southwest Baptist (10-16, 5-10) fell to Drury 3-0 Tuesday night and only has one match this weekend, as they head to Rockhurst Friday night before hosting S&T Tuesday in Bolivar. Rachel Francis leads SBU with 243 kills and is followed by Ashley Lasher with 228. Four other Bearcats are over 100 kills for the season in the persons of Azalea Clendenning (159), Sydney Ernsbarger (117), Lauren Compton (115) and Loran Pritchett (108). Pritchett also manages most of the offense from her setter spot and has 728 assists on the season and also leads SBU with 31 service aces. Paityn Kramer and Aleena Peterson are second and third on the team with 22 and 21 aces each.
 
Peterson's 320 digs are tops on the club while Kramer is second on the team with 200. Four other players have over 100 digs for the season. Rachel Francis leads the way up front with 67 blocks, including 18 solo blocks, while Ernsbarger has 58 blocks, 13 of which are solos.
 
S&T knocked off William Jewell 3-1 on October 2 at Gibson Arena behind a 15-kill from Ply. Saturday's meeting with Rockhurst will be the first of the season. Last spring, S&T split the season series with the Hawks, beating then #10 RU 3-1 in Kansas City before falling in the season finale at Gibson Arena by a score of 3-1. In the first meeting with SBU this season, the Miners picked up a straight set win over the Bearcats at home on October 1.