ST. CHARLES, MO- The Miners continued tri-match play today against Lindenwood and McKendree. The Miner were able to take their first match against Lindenwood in five sets while they struggled to get in a rhythm against McKendree and fell in four sets.

MISSOURI S&T: 3, LINDENWOOD: 2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 15-8)
It was a battle to the final point in the Miners first game of the day; in the first set, S&T got a little cushion after back-to-back kills from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) put them up 17-16. Lindenwood would pull a five-point swing that was capped with a kill from Hannah Borchelt to put the Lions up 21-17.

S&T attempted to hold them, but LWU got consecutive kills from Borchelt and a Miners error to force a 24-19 set point. The Miners were able to hold the Lions off for three set points and make it a 24-22 game with kills from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and a service ace from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High).

But, Lindenwood's Borchelt could not be stopped today as she laid down one of her 14 kills to end the first set with a 25-22 Lion win.

Both teams fought for control in the second set of the match. There would be three leads changes in the beginning of the set before the Miners took the lead and never forfeited it.

Early in the set, S&T went on a four-point run that consisted of kills from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) and gave the Miners the 5-3 lead. Both teams traded points but would see S&T make another attempt to pull away with three combined kills from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) and Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) to make it a 12-7.

The Lions would get close to tying the score, but the Miners always kept their distance and would get the 25-22 set two win off a Lindenwood error.

It was Lindenwood who took the early 6-3 lead in the third set after errors cursed the Miners.

S&T would fight back with a 6-2 run with a combined five kills from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State), Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve), Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), and Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) to take the 10-9 lead.

The Lions and Miners would trade points with each other through the set, but S&T held on again for the win after the trio of Gannaway, Burton, and O'Boyle put down big kills to give the Miners the 25-22 set three win and up 2-1 in the match.

Lindenwood would get up early in the fourth set and never look back; after getting up 20-13 the Lions cruised to the easy 25-18 win to tie the match up and send it to the fifth and final set.

It was all S&T in the final set of the match as the Miners got an early 11-5 lead after a massive double block from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) and Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High). They would glide to the easy 15-8 win after Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) ended the match with one of her game-high 18 kills.

The duo of Gannaway and Burton led the Miners today with 18 and 17 kills, respectively, while Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) added in 11 kills. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) had quite a day, handing out 33 assists while Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) picked up a match-high 18 digs.

MISSOURI S&T: 1, MCKENDREE: 3 (18-25, 22-25, 25-22, 18-25)
It was a different story in the teams second match of the day. Errors proved to be the biggest threat against the Miners.

The Bearcats jumped out to an early 19-11 lead off back-to-back service aces from Amanda Tippett. S&T was able to make a mini run at McKendree's lead after consecutive kills from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) put the Miners down 20-15, but McKendree's offense was hard to stop and they would take the 25-18 set one win.

Errors got the best of the Miners to open the second set; three consecutive errors from S&T saw them down 9-3. A 6-2 run from the Miners cut their deficit to 11-9, but the Bearcats would get an eight-point swing to further extend their lead out to 17-11.

S&T caught fire with a 10-2 run that saw kills from four different Miners and a big block from Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) and Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) to tie the game at 21-21. While S&T's comeback got them back in the game, McKendree would take the second set with a final score of 25-22 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Looking to fend off the Bearcats, the Miners came back strong in the third set.

After looking at a 20-20 tie, S&T pushed for four straight points that included kills from Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) and Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) as well as a service ace from Abigail Widiker (Hammond, Wis./Saint Croix Central). While McKendree was able to hold off the Miners twice on set point, Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) gave the Miners the 25-22 set three win off a kill from Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium).

McKendree controlled the pace in the fourth and final set. The Bearcats pushed away from the Miners early with a 14-8 lead. S&T would make runs at McKendree, getting within three of the Bearcats, it would be McKendree in the end taking the 25-18 set four win and a 3-1 match win.

Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) led the Miners, offensively, with 16 kills while Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and Abigail Widiker (Hammond, Wis./Saint Croix Central) added in eight kills each.

Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) dished out 34 assists while Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest), Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, Ind./Sullivan), and Abigail Widiker (Hammond, Wis./Saint Croix Central) combined for 39 of the teams 68 digs.