INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Buoyed by a strong offensive night by its front line players, Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team clinched a berth to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament as it downed Indianapolis in four sets Friday night.
The Miners won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-20, then after dropping set three 25-18, rallied for a 25-23 win in the fourth set to lock up a spot in the tournament for the fourth consecutive season. Friday's win also sets up a key contest for the Miners to close out their weekend road trip, as they will play Lewis Saturday in Romeoville, Ill., in a matchup of two teams that are 7-3 in the GLVC and were listed as teams under consideration for NCAA regional play in the first rankings that were released earlier this week.
S&T (15-7) got 18 kills and hit a blistering .469 to take the opening set. UIndy (12-12, 5-5 GLVC) held the lead for a better part of a close set and used a 4-0 run to take a 20-18 lead. S&T clawed its way back and tied it 21 on a kill by
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) and again at 22 on a kill by
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) that started a four-point to close out the set.
Following Ply's kill, the Miners got back-to-back kills from
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) before Ply got her fifth kill of the set to finish the late run.
In the second set, it was
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) who did much of the damage as she recorded seven of S&T's 14 kills in the set, two of which came in the latter stages. The Miners led from start to finish in set two, beginning with a combined block by Ply and
Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) and closing with another combined block, this one from Ply and Widiker.
UIndy held the Miners to a .068 hitting mark in the third set as it cut the Miner lead in half, a set that saw 11 ties and five lead changes. S&T led 16-15 after a kill by Ply, but the Greyhounds regained the lead for good by scoring three straight points and then outscored the Miners 7-1 to finish the set.
The Miners took the lead early in the fourth set before the Greyhounds rallied back to take the lead at 10-9. Like the third set, it was tied on 10 occasions and five lead changes took place, but UIndy took a 19-14 lead after an S&T side out. S&T gradually worked its way back and caught the Greyhounds at 22 after a service ace by WIdiker.
UIndy took the lead back at 23-22 before the Miners got a kill from Ply and two in a row from
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) to close out the match.
Mason led the Miners with 16 kills in the contest, while Ply finished with 15 and Burton with 13 as S&T hit .239 for the match. Ply also added six assisted blocks, while Merjil recorded 41 assists and
Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) finished with 17 digs. Widiker also had three of S&T's seven service aces.
The Miners and Lewis – who beat Drury in straight sets Friday -- will face off at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
