ST. LOUIS, MO- The Miners faced a tough challenge today, taking on the AVCA top-ranked Lewis University Flyers and the Saints of Maryville University to round out their non-divisional play. While S&T was able to pull out a 3-0 sweep of the Saints, they would fall in five to the Flyers and move to 9-5 for the season.

MISSOURI S&T: 2, LEWIS: 3 (21-25, 25-17, 25-21, 24-26, 10-15)
After falling to Lewis in the opening set, the Miners took it to the Flyers.

S&T would outscore LU 6-3 midway through the second set to take a 14-10 lead off back-to-back kills from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve). From there, they would push their lead out to as much as seven after three consecutive errors from the Flyers gave S&T the 21-14 lead. The Miners would tie the match at 1-1 after taking the 25-17 set two win after Reed and Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) put down two of the teams 15 kills in the set.

The Miners made it interesting in the third set; after trading points with each other, S&T was able to break away from Lewis after a 7-3 run gave them the 18-12 lead. While Lewis was able to fight their way back to get within four of the Miners, S&T caught a break with an error from Lewis and a block from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) made it a 24-18 game.

The Flyers would fight off three set-points of the Miners, but Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) gave S&T the 2-1 lead in the match after she put down a kill to end the third set with a 25-21 final.

Lewis came back in the fourth set and did all they could to hold the Miners.

After S&T faced a 21-14 deficit, the Miners would rally for six straight points to get within one of the Flyers. After a kill from Amanda Greening put Lewis up 22-20, S&T would get three consecutive points with a kill from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High), a service ace from Burton, and a block from Gannaway and O'Boyle to take the 23-22 lead.

After tying the game back up at 24-24 from another block by Gannaway and O'Boyle, Lewis would get back-to-back kills from Caroline Stefanon to take the 26-24 win and force a fifth set.

S&T did all they could to take the final set of the match, but Lewis used a quick 7-4 advantage to keep their lead throughout the set. But, seven LU kills along with three blocks would give them the 15-10 set five win and hand the Miners the 3-2 loss.

Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) had a day with 18 kills and 18 digs while Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) led all hitter with 20 kills. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) had a match-high 48 assists while also recording four service aces.

On the defensive side, the Miners had a field day recording 95 total digs and getting four players in double figures; along with Gannaway's 18, Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) recorded 27, Merjil picked up 23, and Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) recorded 13 digs to go along with her nine kills.

Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) led the way in defending the net with eight total blocks.

MISSOURI S&T: 3, MARYVILLE: 0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-21)
It was a much different story in the Miners second match of the day; they cruised to a 3-0 win over the Saints while holding them to just .042 hitting in the match.

S&T took an early 12-7 lead in the first set after three consecutive errors from Maryville. The Miners would push that lead out to as much as 18-10 off kills from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy).

While the Saints fought their way back to get within five of the Miners, S&T's front line quickly ended the set after kills from Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) along with a big block from Reed and Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) gave them the 25-19 set one win.

The Miners made even quicker work of the Saints in the second set. After taking the lead at 6-5 after consecutive kills from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy), Abigail Widiker (Hammond, Wis./Saint Croix Central), and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State), S&T never surrendered their lead and took the 25-17 set two win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Errors proved to be costly to the Saints in the third set; while S&T put down 11 kills, nine errors committed by Maryville would play in the Miners favor.

After a 7-1 run gave S&T a 21-15 lead, the Miners would see the Saints fight their way back to get with three of them. While the Miners were able to get to match point off a kill from Widiker, the Saints would fight off two match points before committing a service error to give the Miners the 25-21 set three win and the 3-0 match sweep.

Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) led all hitters with 13 kills in the match while Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) added in 10. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) dished out 36 assists while Abigail Widiker (Hammond, Wis./Saint Croix Central) and Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) picked up 22 of the teams 39 digs.