ROLLA, Mo. – After a successful start to the 2021 campaign, the Missouri S&T women's volleyball will take to the road for the first time in the fall 2021 season to participate in the UIndy Invitational hosted by the University of Indianapolis. The nine-team field is split into three pods of three teams each. S&T will match up Friday against Wheeling to start the day before wrapping up the evening against Bemidji State in the Nicoson 2 Pod. The other teams in the field are the host UIndy Greyhounds, the West Florida Argonauts, the Cedarville Yellow Jackets, who compose the Ruth Lilly Pod, and the Winona State Warriors, Ashland Eagles and Northern Michigan Wildcats in the Nicoson 1 Pod. Friday's results will determine the schedule for play on Saturday.
 
The Miners (3-1) opened up their slate by hosting the Miner Invitational with wins over Purdue Northwest (3-0), Arkansas-Monticello (3-0) and Missouri Western (3-1) and coming up short in a five-set battle against Upper Iowa (3-2). Payton Gannaway (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence Free State) led the way over the weekend with 59 kills, followed closely by Jordan burton who logged 58 in the four matches at Gibson Arena. Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) and Katarina Seres (Belgrade, Serbia/Ninth Gymnasium) split time as the setter opening weekend and dished out 90 and 56 assists respectively. Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) has a team-leading 51 digs while Gannaway and Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) both enter the weekend with 35 and 34 digs each. Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and Kiernan O'Boyle (Kansas City, MO/St. Teresa's Academy) hosted a block party over the weekend and as a result recorded 18 and 14 blocks respectively. Gannaway is the only other Miner with double-digit blocks with 12.
 
Wheeling (2-2) opened their season at the West Florida Spring Hill Suites Invitational. The Cardinals dropped their first match to the Argos on Thursday 3-0, and split their two matches Saturday, picking up a win over Southern Indiana 3-1 before falling to Palm Beach Atlantic 3-1 that night. Wheeling closed out the event with a 3-1 win over Spring Hill to get back to .500 in the early going. Kayla Bekier leads the team with 42 kills, while Maddy Winters has 38 kills and boats a .321 hitting percentage. Riley Kindall and Lexi Smith have 31 kills apiece, while Lexi Reinert is just one kill shy of 30 through four matches. Karly Niesen serves as the primary setter for the Cardinals and has 172 assists coming into this weekend. Defensively, Audrey Francis leads the team with 94 digs, while Winters leads the team with 10 blocks. In this week's AVCA Coaches Poll, the Cardinals are receiving votes after dropping out of the poll from 23rd.
 
Bemidji State (0-4) started their season at the Yellowjacket Invitational hosted by Montana State-Billings, falling in straight sets to South Dakota Mines, MSU-Billings and Black Hills State before dropping a 3-1 match to Saint Martin's to end their weekend. Anna Averkamp leads the Beavers with 26 kills and is followed by Rylie Bjerklie with 20. 11 different players have recorded kills for Bemidji state in the early going, with seven in double-figures entering play this weekend. Emily Wade has a team-high 81 assists and 30 digs, while Madison Weyker leads the Beavers with 61 digs. Bjerklie also leads the team with nine blocks.
 
As for the other teams in the field, Indianapolis enters the weekend 1-3 after competing the Seawolf Invitational hosted by (RV) Alaska Anchorage. The Greyhounds fell in straight sets to Alaska Fairbanks, the host Seawolves and #10 Central Missouri before picking up a 3-1 win over Biola to wrap up their trip to The Last Frontier.  
 
#21 West Florida didn't drop a set to begin their season en route to a 4-0 weekend at the event they hosted, knocking off the likes of Wheeling, Spring Hill, (RV) Southern Indiana and Palm Beach Atlantic.
 
Cedarville will be getting their season going this weekend after their Cedarville Invitational matches opposite Seton Hill and Catawba were canceled.
 
14th-ranked Winona State is the other 4-0 team in the field after they swept through the Ferris State Invite, defeating #12 Oklahoma Baptist and McKendree in straight sets on Friday before beating #18 Hillsdale and the host (RV) Bulldogs each by scores of 3-1 Saturday.
 
Ashland is looking for their first win of the fall 2021 season after an 0-4 weekend at the Tampa Classic. The Eagles fell in five sets to Illinois-Springfield to open their weekend before falling 3-0 to Northwest Missouri State, 3-1 to Augustana (S.D.) and 3-0 to the host Spartans. Rounding out the field is Northern Michigan, who went 1-3 at the Keweenaw Classic. The Wildcats won their opener over Minnesota State Mankato 3-2 before losing their next three matches to St. Cloud State (3-0), #1 Concordia-St. Paul (3-1) and #11 Minnesota-Duluth (3-0).