SPRINGFIELD, ILL.- The Miners opened up tri-match play today on the road with matches against Illinois Springfield and Truman State. While the Miners swept the Prairie Stars 3-0, they suffered the 3-1 loss to the Bulldogs later in then day.

Missouri S&T: 3, Illinois Springfield: 0
The Miners picked up an early morning sweep over the Prairie Stars to start tri-match play.

S&T attacked early with a 7-3 lead after back-to-back errors from UIS. After the Prairie Stars made a run and caught up with the Miners, Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) started a 4-0 run for S&T with a kill. After a service ace from Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) and a kill from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) helped them gain a 16-12 lead, the Miners had enough of a cushion to keep their lead for the rest of the set.

Looking at a 21-16 lead, the Miners would finish out the set with the final four points after kills from Burton and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State), a service ace from Abigail Widiker (Hammond, Wis./Saint Croix Central), and a monster block from Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) and Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) and take the 25-16 set one win.

The Miners opened the second set on fire; after getting up 8-1 off back-to-back service aces from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High), S&T would take complete control of the set.

A 9-0 run, that was capped off with a kill from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) would push the Miners lead out to 20-6. While the Prairie Stars were able to come up with 10 more points before the end of the set, S&T's early lead would stay strong and take a 2-0 lead in the match after another 25-16 win.

It was a battle in the third set for control.

Both teams traded points with each other until the Miners were finally able to pull away.

S&T was able to get a 20-16 lead after three combined kills from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) and Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) along with a service ace from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State). From there, the Miners were able to outscore Illinois Springfield 5-3 and take the 25-19 win after a kill from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) ended the match.

The Miners controlled every aspect of the match; they put down 42 kills while holding the Prairie Stars to just -.026 hitting.

Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) led all players with 15 kills while Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) added in 10 kills and nine digs. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) dished out a match-best 20 assists while Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) handed out 13 of her own.

On the defensive side, Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) picked up a match-high 12 digs while Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve), Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High), and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) combined for 4.0 total blocks.

MISSOURI S&T: 1, TRUMAN STATE: 3
Things took a turn for the Miners in the second set of the day. After winning the first set 25-18, the Bulldogs of Truman State would win the next three sets and hand S&T the 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 15, 25, 17, 25) loss.

The Miners and Bulldogs traded points to open the first set; after looking at a 10-9 deficit, the Miners went on a 5-0 run that was capped by back-to-back kills from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and gave S&T the 14-10 lead. Errors from Truman State would push the Miners lead out to 18-11.

S&T would outscore TSU 6-3 in the set and take the 25-18 win.

It was much the same to start the second set for the Miners; looking at an 18-15 advantage, the Bulldogs came back and tied the match at 21-21 after an error from S&T. TSU would end the set with a kill from Sam Yancy to take the 25-23 set two win and tie the match at 1-1.

Truman State took control in the third set, getting up by as much eight after a double block from Emma Berthold and Emma Wollert. The Bulldogs would get their largest lead of the set after a kill from Sam Yancy put Truman State up 24-13. Two errors from TSU would put the Miners down 24-15, but a kill from Ellie Kaat gave the Bulldogs the 25-15 set two win.

The Miners did all they could to make a comeback in the fourth set; after getting down 9-4 to the Bulldogs, they would go on multiple mini spurts to catch TSU. After a kill from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) put the Miners down 22-17, Truman's offense could not be stopped at the duo of Emma Wollert and Ellie Kaat put down kills and gave the Bulldogs the 25-17 win and the 3-1 match win.

Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) led the way for the Miners with 14 kills while Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) added in 11 kills. Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) dished out a team-best 15 assists while Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) chipped in 14 assists.

On the defensive side, Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) led the charge with three total blocks while Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) collected 1.5 blocks.

As a team, Missouri S&T (4-2, 4-2 GLVC) finished the match hitting .077 while putting down 41 kills and adding in six service aces and six blocks.