BOLIVAR, Mo. – Despite posting attack percentages over .300 in each of the final two sets, Missouri S&T's volleyball team was unable to overcome a two-set deficit as it dropped a 3-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference decision Friday to Southwest Baptist.
The Miners (9-5, 3-2 GLVC), whose three-game winning streak came to an end, led for a good portion of set one and led by as much as three in the early stages. The teams went back and forth in the set as there were seven lead changes along the way, with S&T holding its last advantage of 20-19 after a kill by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South).
However, the Bearcats (10-6, 3-1 GLVC) took the lead for good in the set at 22-21 and scored the final four points to take the set 25-21. They carried that momentum into set two, taking the lead at 2-1 and never looking back as they won the second by a 25-17 count.
S&T came out in the third set and after taking the lead at 8-7, gradually built its lead through the middle stages of the set. Up 14-10, the Miners rattled off seven consecutive points with two kills coming from Burton and a pair of blocks near the end of the run, the first by Burton and
Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka) and the other from Feltz and
Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial).
After SBU stopped the 7-0 run, the Miners closed out the set with four straight points and got back-to-back service aces from Merjil to finish it with a 25-11 win.
S&T hit .303 in the third set and hit .300 in the fourth, but that set turned into a nip-and tuck affair much like set one. The teams swapped the lead seven times and the Miners took a 20-19 lead to prompt SBU to take a timeout. After the stoppage, the Bearcats ran off five straight points to bring about match point. The Miners held off two match points on kills by
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central), the Bearcats ended the match on a kill by Rolla native Loran Pritchett, who had a game-high 18 kills in the contest.
While the Miners hit .300 in the last set, SBU was better as it posted a .351 hitting percentage in the fourth stanza. S&T finished the match with a .166 mark and was led in the kills department by Ply with 13 and
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) with 12. Merjil finished with a game-high 41 assists and Widiker ended up with 15 digs.
Missouri S&T will look to get back into the win column Saturday when it takes on Drury in a 3 p.m. match in Springfield, Mo.
