ROLLA, Mo. – After pulling off an unprecedented first weekend of play in program history, Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team heads north to Michigan this weekend to take part in another three-day event at Hillsdale College.

The Miners opened the 2022 season with three-set sweeps over all four of their opponents – the first time S&T has opened a season with four consecutive straight-set wins – and will look to continue their early run of success beginning on Thursday when they face Gannon in a match that gets underway at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Missouri S&T will play twice on Friday, facing Colorado School of Mines at 10 a.m., Eastern and host Hillsdale at 2 p.m., then wraps up the weekend Saturday with a matchup against Ferris State at 2 p.m., Eastern time.

The Miners, who received votes in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings, will face three ranked teams over the course of the weekend.  Gannon is ranked 17^th this week, while Colorado School of Mines is 14^th and Hillsdale is ranked No. 22.  Ferris State, meanwhile, was ranked in the AVCA's pre-season poll but dropped out of the rankings this week.

In their four matches last week, the Miners recorded an attack percentage of .263, led by the .400 mark by Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) as she averaged 3.3 kills per set.  Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) also averaged 3.3 kills a set as she hit .212, while Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) had  a .312 attack mark with 2.9 per set.

Setters Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) and Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial) combined for 134 assists in the two matches – 75 by Arand and 59 by Merjil – while Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) had a hand in 22 blocks in the four matches that included eight in the win over Southern Arkansas.  As a team, the Miners averaged 10 blocks in their first four matches.

Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) had seven of the Miners' 21 service aces in the four contests and also leads the team with 52 digs on the defensive side.  Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) had 41 digs over the weekend and also averaged 2.8 kills per set.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS:  Gannon went 3-0 in its opening weekend of play with a trio of straight-set wins over Malone, Notre Dame (Ohio) and Grand Valley State.  The 17^th-ranked Golden Knights have been paced on the offensive side by Sam Dienek with 4.4 kills per set and Madde Blake, who has averaged three kills a set, while Sophia Glabus has recorded six blocks on the year. The Golden Knights also posted 26 service aces in their three wins over the weekend.

Colorado School of Mines won three of its four opening weekend contests in its home classic, splitting two matches against ranked teams along the way.  The Orediggers have three players averaging more than three kills per set, led by Shannon Perna's 3.4, while Perna and Emily Knight were in on 10 blocks apiece during the event.  Elle Duis had 58 digs in the four matches.

Hillsdale also went 3-1 in its first weekend of play, suffering its only loss in a four-set match at Rockhurst.  Karoline Shelton averaged 3.3 digs in the four matches and also recorded 46 digs, while Malzie Brown was in on 26 blocks during the course of the weekend.

Ferris State, who was ranked 20^th in the pre-season rankings, was swept in four matches at the Western Washington Invitational that included five-set losses to Cal State LA and Simon Fraser.  Oli Henneman-Dallape averaged 2.2 kills in the first four contests, while Syann Fairfield and Chelsie Freeman were in on 11 blocks apiece.