BOLIVAR, Mo. – Playing their final midweek match of the 2021 season, the Missouri S&T volleyball team was back on the road Tuesday night at the Meyer Sports Center against Southwest Baptist. After falling in the first set the Miners (18-9, 11-5) took sets two and three and withstood a late rally by the Bearcats (10-18, 5-12) in set four to pick the win in five sets in large part thanks to several big individual performances by a score of 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 25-20, 21-25, 15-12).
 
The Bearcats scored first and led 10-5 through the first 15 points of the night before S&T rattled off four-straight led by Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) and Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) to get within one at 10-9. SBU managed to answer and kept the Miners at bay as the set progressed, leading by as much as eight as they took the opener 25-20.
 
SBU again scored first in set two but this time the set started off in a back-and-forth affair with several ties and lead changes until with the home team leading 10-8, Missouri S&T rattled off five in row led by Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) along with Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) and Ply to surge in front 13-10. S&T continued to push the pace and extend their lead on three-straight kills from Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) to make it 16-11. Another 5-0 Miner run in the late going all but wrapped things up as S&T took the set 25-16 to even the match at 1-1.
 
It was a 3-0 lead for Southwest Baptist to open set three, but that lead was short lived as three consecutive errors got the Miners right back into things. O'Boyle helped the Miners establish an 8-4 lead, recording block assists with Burton or Mason on four of the next five points and recording a block on six of eight points to open the set. S&T continued to add onto the lead as the set advanced and kept the Bearcats at bay to take a 25-20 win and lead the match 2-1.
 
S&T opened up the fourth stanza of the night on an ace from Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) and Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) kill before Ply followed and SBU point with a kill to make it 3-1 early. However, the lead would not last long as the Bearcats scored five-straight to jump ahead 6-3. A pitched exchange of points followed that saw the lead trade hands once and the score even on three occasions as S&T emerged ahead 16-13. The Bearcats then strung together six points in a row and retook the lead for good at 19-16. The Miners tried to mount a late push but were unable to do so as SBU evened the match at 2-2 with a 25-21 win.
 
Looking to wrap things up in set five, the Green & Gold started the final frame of the night with five straight points taking advantage of several SBU errors. The Miners looked to be in control after 12 points leading 8-4 but SBU battled back to within one to make it close at 10-9. Digging deep, S&T stayed weathered the storm and pushed the lead back to four on three more Bearcat errors and withstood another late push, closing out the night with a block from Burton and O'Boyle to win 15-12 and take the match 3-2 to move back into a tie for first in the GLVC West.
 
Three Miners finished in double-figure kills led by Burton and Gannaway with 13 apiece, while Ply added 11. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) and Seres both saw action as the setter Tuesday and both finished with over 20 kills, posting 28 and 22 respectively. Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) tallied 17 kills while Widiker added 15. O'Boyle had a season-best night up front, logging 13 total blocks including four solo efforts, both of which are season-best marks. Those totals are also career bests as well, with this being the first double-digit block match of O'Boyle's career while her four solos tie a career best from 2019 and are a new program record for most solo blocks in a five set GLVC match.

As a team, S&T posted a season-high 17 blocks Tuesday night.
 
Up next, S&T plays their home finale against West Division co-leader Rockhurst Friday night at 7 P.M. at Gibson Arena. The Miners swept the Hawks in straight sets Saturday in their meeting of the season.