HAMMOND, Ind. – Missouri S&T overcame a two-set deficit Friday morning to force a fifth set against Davenport and was on the cusp of a victory, but the Panthers rallied late in the decisive set to take a 3-2 win in S&T's first contest at the Midwest Regional Crossover at the Hammond SportsPlex.
After dropping the first two sets, the Miners stormed back with wins of 25-21 and 25-20 in the next two periods and then jumped out to an 8-5 at the changeover in set five. Davenport scored the first two points after the changeover, but a kill by
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb), followed by a sideout allowed S&T to regain its three-point advantage.
S&T built that lead to 14-11 in the fifth set to bring about match point, but the Panthers (17-4) scored five consecutive points to rally for the victory to drop S&T to 10-7 on the season.
The Miners were able to stay on the heels of the Panthers in the first set, but only held the lead at 1-0 in that stanza. The match was tied on 10 occasions in the opening set, the last time at 18 after a block by
Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) and Mason. S&T was within two at 23-21 before the Panthers got back-to-back kills to close out the set at 25-21 in which they hit .452 to S&T's .219.
Davenport, who won for the ninth straight game, continued its hot hitting in the second set with a .306 mark. Like the first set, the teams played on even terms for a good portion of it as there were five ties early on, but the Panthers used a 6-1 spurt to build a six-point advantage and held off a late S&T charge to win 25-22.
Trailing 23-18, S&T got kills from
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South),
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) and Mason as well as a block by Mason and
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) to get to within two before Davenport got a block of its own to win the set.
However, the Miners bounced back in the third set after the Panthers took a 6-2 at the outset. Spurred by a kill by Widiker, S&T scored five of the next six points to draw even at seven and took its first lead at 9-8 on a block by
Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial). The Miners took the lead for good on a kill by Burton to give them a 14-13 advantage and built as much as a four-point lead before closing out a 25-21 win on a kill by Mason.
The Miners hit .250 in the third set while holding Davenport to a .163 mark.
S&T started set four much in the same manner as it did in set three, falling behind early in the set but taking the lead with a 5-0 run. Widiker had two kills during that run and
Brooke McCartney (Lincoln, NE/Lincoln East) added a service ace, while the Miners also forced two sideouts along the way.
Davenport rallied to regain the advantage at 15-14, but S&T strung together four straight points to take the lead back for good, moving into the lead on a combined block by Offerman and Mason. Late in the set after the Panthers had closed to with one at 21-20, the Miners got the final four points thanks to two more kills and a service ace by Widiker and a kill by Burton to finish it.
Burton had a season-high 21 kills in the match, while Mason finished with 16 and Widiker with 14. Mason and Offerman both had a hand in six blocks, while Ply had five block assists. The Miners also got 29 assists from
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) and 21 digs from
Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) in the contest. S&T finished with an attack percentage of .247.
Hayley Kreiger, who entered the match ranked third in the nation in kills, had 32 in the match for the Panthers.
Missouri S&T will face Findlay in its second match of the event at 7 p.m. tonight.
