ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's volleyball team held off five set points in the opening stanza of Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference contest against Rockhurst at Gibson Arena, winning that set and then two of the next three to pick up a key 3-1 conference win.
The Hawks (9-3, 2-1 GLVC), whose two previous losses had been to nationally-ranked teams, held a 24-20 lead in the first set. But after kills by
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South), followed by an attack error and ball handling error by Rockhurst, the Miners (9-4, 3-1 GLVC) were able to draw even at 24.
Rockhurst regained a 25-24 lead to reach set point again, but consecutive kills by
Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial), Burton and
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) allowed S&T to rally and take the set by a count of 27-25.
S&T carried that late momentum into the second set as it never trailed in the 25-20 win. The set was tied four times early, but the Miners went in front for good on a Burton kill and then used a four-point burst that included two service aces from
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) to take a five-point lead.
Rockhurst quickly cut that lead to two, but couldn't get any closer as the Miners finished off the set with a block by Mason, one of 10 recorded by S&T in the contest.
The Hawks came back and hit .333 in the third set to win 25-12, scoring 10 consecutive points in one stretch and outscoring S&T 15-2 to finish it. But the Miners responded in set four in similar fashion as they posted a .310 attack percentage and built as much as a nine-point lead before holding off a Rockhurst rally effort.
S&T got out to a 9-3 lead to open the set, then extended it to 16-7 following a kill by Mason. Rockhurst scored five straight points to close the gap to four and then cut the margin to two at 18-16 following a Sarah Pyle kill before the Miners regrouped to close out the match.
The Miners tallied three straight points to extend the margin back to five and ended up outscoring the Hawks 7-1 to finish the match, getting back-to-back kills from Mason to complete the 25-17 set victory.
Mason had 12 kills to lead three Miners in double figures in that category, as Burton and Widiker had 11 apiece. The Miners hit .195 for the match to Rockhurst's .190 and had the 10 blocks, with
Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) having a hand in six of them that included four solo blocks.
Merjil recorded 28 assists in the contest and
Lexi Netherlain (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) led S&T with 18 digs.
Missouri S&T will play away from home over the next three weeks, beginning with Friday's 6 p.m. contest at Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, Mo. The Miners will also play the following afternoon at Drury in Springfield.
