ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T shut down Maryville's offensive attack Friday night and as a result, recorded a straight-set win over the Saints in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match at Gibson Arena.
The Miners (13-7, 5-3 GLVC) held Maryville to a .079 hitting percentage in the contest, while posting a .250 mark on their side of the net. S&T took control of all three sets from the midway point on as it won for the third time in four home matches this season by scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-16.
Maryville held as much as a three-point lead in the opening set, but S&T used a four-point run to take its first lead in the set at 12-11. The Miners would go up for good at 14-13 after a kill by
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb), which started another 4-0 run to put S&T in command of the set, which ended with one of 10 kills in the game by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South).
The Miners took their first lead of the second set at 11-10 following a service ace by
Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) that was part of a 7-0 run by S&T that put it ahead for good. S&T would close the second set by scoring the final three points after the Saints had closed to within five.
The final set again saw the Miners fall behind early, but rally to take the lead for good midway through it. S&T grabbed the advantage for the first time after forcing a sideout to take a 9-8 lead, then took it for good with a 7-0 run that was highlighted by two kills apiece by Mason and
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central).
Mason finished with a game-high 13 kills and had just one attack error in the contest and Burton was also in double figures in that column. The Miners, who hit .310 in the final set, also recorded 13 blocks in the match of which
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) was part of 10 of them.
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) led the Miners with 12 assists in the match and
Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) had a game-high 19 digs. Pearson had three of S&T's eight service aces.
The Miners will be back in action on Saturday as they host McKendree on Senior Day at Gibson Arena beginning at 3 p.m.
