ROLLA, MO- The Miners faced a tough outing today, hosting the 12^th ranked Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana and the 7^th ranked Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis. S&T would struggle to take down USI, but would make an outstanding comeback and sweep the Tritons to finish the day.
MISSOURI S&T: 1, SOUTHERN INDIANA: 3
S&T came out of the gate hot, getting a kill from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) and back-to-back service aces from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) to take an early 3-0 lead.
USI answered right back, tying the game after kills from Katherine Koch and Sidney Hegg.
Both teams would trade points with one another, neither team getting more than a coupe of points ahead of the other.
The Miners would get one of their largest leads of the set when the team went on a 6-2 run that included kills from Burton, Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve), and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) to take a 21-18 lead. While Southern Indiana would cut their deficit back to just one, the Miners would get the 25-22 set one win off a block from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and a kill from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve).
Set two started much the same; both teams had a hard time breaking away from the other.
After looking at a 14-13 lead off a block from O'Boyle and Gannaway, the Miners and Screaming Eagles would go through four ties and six lead changes before USI took the 25-23 set two win.
Southern Indiana's offense was hard to stop in the third set; the Screaming Eagles put down 17 kills to the Miners nine.
S&T found themselves with the 14-10 lead in the third after another block from Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) and Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) and a kill from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High). USI would go on to score the next six points to take a 16-14 lead.
While the Miners fought their way back to make it a 22-21 game, Southern Indiana would get the last three points of the set and take the 25-21 set three win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
It would come down to extra points in the fourth set to determine a winner.
Looking at a 24-21 deficit, S&T fought off two match points and even tied the game at 24-24. After a kill from Katherine Koch put USI up 25-24, the Miners would get kills from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) to take the 26-25 lead.
USI got those two points back, taking a 27-26 lead and forcing S&T into another match-point situation. Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) would come in clutch for the Miners with a kill to tie the set at 27-27, but Southern Indiana would come out on top with the 29-27 set four win and the 3-1 match win.
Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) led the way for the Miners, offensively, with 16 kills while Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) added in 13 kills. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) dished out 35 assists while Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) and Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) picked up 16 and 14 digs, respectively.
The Miners front line was the highlight of the match, recording 13 blocks with Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) and Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) leading the way with 3.5 each.
MISSOURI S&T: 3, MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS: 0
The Miners did not let their loss to USI affect them this game; they controlled the game from the first serve and never looked back.
After finding themselves down 9-4 to open the first set, S&T would rally back to get within one of the Tritons. Then, a 6-0 run that saw kills from Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High), Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy), and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State), as well as blocks from the three, gave the Miners the 16-13 lead. That lead would hold steady for S&T an they would get the 25-23 set one win after a kill from Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy).
S&T kept the pace going into the second set, gaining a 15-11 lead over UMSL that would force them to take a timeout.
UMSL would rally back to make it a 23-21 S&T lead, but back-to-back kills from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) would secure them the 25-22 set two win and put them up 2-0 in the match.
The Tritons tried to extinguish the Miners hot streak in the third set.
S&T trailed UMSL for much of the set, never getting a much-needed run that they got in the previous two sets.
The Miners wouldn't see their first lead of the set until kills from Avery Reed (Ste. Genevieve, Mo./Ste. Genevieve) and Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) put S&T up 18-17. Both teams would trade points and look at a 19-19 tie. The Miners got their needed run at the end of the set after they outscored the Tritons 6-1 and took the 25-20 set three win and the 3-0 sweep.
Jordan Burton (Olathe, Kansas/Olathe South Senior High) and Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) led the way for the Miners with 14 and 10 kills, respectively, while Shelby Ply (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) added in eight. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) dished out a game-high 40 assists while Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, Kansas/Blue Valley Northwest) both picked up 10 digs.
The Miners front line had another spectacular game, recording 11 blocks with Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) leading the way with 2.5 blocks. Gannaway and Ply both added in 2.0 blocks.