ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T men's volleyball team hosted and defeated Kentucky State for its inaugural home match and defeated the Thorobreds in straight sets Saturday afternoon in Gibson Arena. The Miners won the first set 25-20, the second 25-15 and completed the sweep with a 25-17 victory in set three to complete its first victory in program history. 
 
In the first set, the Miners (1-2) scored three straight points to take the lead for good in the set, moving in front on a kill by Zachary Carff (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic). With a two point advantage at 7-5, the Miners had another three-point run where Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) added a service ace and Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) added a kill. The Thorobreds were able to cut the deficit to four at 12-8 after a kill by Jordan Howard, but the Miners were able to build its largest lead of six after a Sallade kill that made it 19-13.

S&T recorded a .556 hitting percentage in the opening set of the match.
 
In the second set,  S&T paced KSU to a 4-3 lead when the Miners began a 8-0 run where Caleb Rohlwing (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and Meyer each had two blocks and a kill in the run. The Thorobreds cut the deficit to eight at 14-6 after a service ace by Howard, but the Miners responded with a 4-0 run where Grogan Kraus (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) and Sallade each tallied a kill to put S&T in control of the set.
 
S&T jumped out to a quick 3-0 run in the final set after two service aces by Meyer. Kentucky State battled back to a 7-5 deficit after a Trent Findley kill, but that ended up being the closest the Thorobreds would get to the Miners as S&T responded with a 7-0 run with Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) adding three of his four total kills in the run.

The Miners were led in kills by Meyer and Sallade with 11 apiece, while Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) added four. Andres Hernandez (Bedford, Texas/Trinity) and Zachary Carff (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) led S&T with six digs apiece while Sallade and Meyer added four and Carff finished with a team-high eight service aces. S&T was led in assists by Jordan Orr (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) with 18 as Brayden Kuruzovich (State College, Penn./State College Area School District) added 10 as Rohlwing and Meyer added two blocks. As a team, the Miners had 38 kills on 81 attacking attempts and finished with a .325 hitting percentage.

The Thorobreds (0-2) opened its 2023 season with a defeat at Maryville last night before dropping this decision Saturday. KSU was led in kills by Howard with eight as Connor Butler added five. Howard and Javier Saldivar each added four digs as Howard recorded the only two service aces for the Thorobreds. Kade Andruski ended the decision with 14 assists with 56 total sets. 
 
The Miners will begin a three-game road trip starting with Purdue Fort Wayne on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m eastern in Fort Wayne. 
 
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