ROLLA, Mo. - The S&T men's volleyball team will begin a three-game road trip starting with a contest against Purdue Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. Friday in Indiana, then travel to the state of Ohio for matches Saturday against Ohio State at 7 p.m. (Eastern time) and Sunday with Central State that will start at 1 p.m. Eastern.   
 
The Miners (1-2) enter this weekend matches coming off a straight set victory over Kentucky State last Saturday afternoon in their first-ever home match, one where S&T was led in kills by Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) and Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) 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 Carff also finished with a team-high eight service aces. S&T was led in assists by Jordan Orr (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) with 18 and Brayden Kuruzovich (State College, Penn./State College Area School District) with 10, while Caleb Rohlwing (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and Meyer added two blocks each. As a team, the Miners had 38 kills on 81 attacking attempts and finished with a .325 hitting percentage.
 
After three matches, S&T is led in kills by Sallade with 24 while Meyer has added 23 and Rohlwing contributed 11 as the trio has tallied 58 of 84 of the team's total kills. 
 
Meyer leads the Miners with averages of 4.17 points per set, 2.5 kills per set and has recorded 12 service aces and 37.5 points. Sallade is currently averaging 2.6 kills and 2.8 points per set and is second with 25.5 points. Orr leads S&T with 45 assists and Kuruzovich has added 24 assists. Rowling, who was named as the Independent Volleyball Association's Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday, leads S&T with nine blocks.
 
As a team, S&T is averaging 9.3 kills and 8.8 assists per set with 16 service aces and 12 blocks. 
 
ABOUT PURDUE FORT WAYNE:
The Mastodons (2-1, 0-0 MIVA) enter this match coming off a victory over Carthage in straight sets on Jan. 13 where Fort Wayne was led in kills by Jon Diedrich with 13. Mark Frazier added 10 kills and led the team with seven digs and Sergio Carrillo accounted for 35 assists and added two service aces.  
 
As a team, Purdue Fort Wayne is averaging 10.9 kills and 10.4 assists per set while tallying 11 service aces.  Diedrich and Frazier have 29 and 27 kills, respectively, with each player averaging at least 3 kills per set. 
 
ABOUT OHIO STATE:
The Buckeyes (2-2, 0-0 MIVA) will host Maryville Friday evening before hosting the Miners on Saturday in the Covelli Center. This season, Ohio State defeated Central State and George Mason while dropping matches to fourth-ranked Penn State and ninth-ranked Grand Canyon.
 
As of Jan. 16, the NVA/AVCA coaches poll has Ohio State ranked 14th team in the country after a 3-1 victory over George Mason last Sunday in Fairfax, Va.  Samuel Clark and Jacob Pasteur led Ohio State with 13 kills apiece while Michael Wright led with 35 assists and two blocks. 
 
ABOUT CENTRAL STATE:
The Marauders (1-2, 0-0 SIAC) opened its 2023 season last week with losses to 14th-ranked Ohio State and fourth-ranked Penn State where Central State dropped both decisions; it did capture one set from Penn State. The Marauders followed those contests by traveling to Erskine, where they went the distance to achieve a 3-2 win. 
 
In that decision, three Marauders finished with double-digit kills led by Henrique Doederlein Do Amaral with 19, while Ljubisa Novakovic contributed 14 and Cameron Lee added 13; the trio combined for 46 of the team's 59 team kills. Marcus Franck led Central State with 51 assists while adding a team-high four service aces and Victor Scherer led with 13 digs.
 
Central State will host Maryville Saturday afternoon before hosting the Miners Sunday in Beacom Lewis Gym.