LIBERTY, Mo. – The Missouri S&T volleyball team was back on the road Friday night as they took to the court at the Mabee Center opposite GLVC West Division foe William Jewell. After dropping the two of the first three sets of the night, the Miners (16-9, 9-5) rallied to force a fifth set in a tightly contested match, before emerging victorious over the Cardinals (7-20, 1-14) 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 15-10).
 
The Cardinals scored first and led in the early going until a Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) kill keyed a 3-0 run that saw S&T jump in front 8-6. The two sides exchanged points and the lead in the sequence that followed that saw S&T come out ahead 13-11. William Jewell then scored eight of the next 10 points to retake the lead 19-15. A late push led by Gannaway and Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) made it 22-21 in the late going but the rally fell short as the home team took the set 25-22.
 
The Miners scored first in set two and led from whistle to whistle. Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) got things rolling as S&T charged out to a 10-5 lead. The Green & Gold stretched their lead late, getting kills from Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb), Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and Gannaway while getting aces from Merjil and Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan). WJC tried to rally late and managed to get with six at 24-19 but the comeback was stopped cold by an attack error that got S&T on the board with a 25-19 win.
 
Burton got S&T on the board first again in set three and led 8-7 through the first 15 points. William Jewell scored five of the next six to take their first lead of the set at 12-9. The teams traded points until the Miners scored four-straight led by Gannaway and Widiker to retake the lead 16-15. Again, the lead traded hands as the set entered the late stages with Missouri S&T coming out ahead 22-19 following a 3-0 burst that saw kills from Ply and Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb). Unfortunately, the next six points went the way of the Cardinals as they retook the match lead with a 25-22 win.
 
William Jewell scored first in set four and led through the first 15 points until Gannaway gave S&T the lead with a pair of aces and a kill to make it 10-8. The Miners maintained the lead and held off several efforts by the Cardinals to retake the lead. After WJC tied things at 22, Widiker took command and logged a kill and an ace to give the Miners back the lead before the set ended with another Cardinal miscue to even things at 2-2 and force set five with a 25-22 win.
 
William Jewell scored first in the final frame of the night but that ended up being their only lead of the set, as the next four points went the way of S&T behind two kills from Burton. The Cardinals managed to come back and tie things at 6-6 before six of the next seven points went the way of S&T behind four kills and an ace from Gannaway to make it 12-7. With momentum in their favor, the Miners closed out the match with kills from Merjil and Gannaway to win 15-10 and get back in the win column with a 3-2 win.
 
Gannaway posted her sixth 20-kill outing of the season, leading the way with 21 for the match. Ply finished with 14 kills behind a .400 hitting percentage, while Burton also found her way into double-digits kills with 10. Merjil dished out 41 assists and added six digs and three kills, while O'Boyle logged four kills, four digs and five blocks. Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) finished the night with a team-high 19 digs with Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) and Widiker ending the night with 12 and 11 respectively. The Miners closed out the night by hitting .545 in the final set of the match.
 
Missouri S&T will be back in action Saturday at 3 P.M., as they wrap up the Kansas City swing with a match against division leader Rockhurst.