HAMMOND, Ind. – Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team earned a split of its two matches on the second day of the Midwest Regional Crossover, as it bounced back from a four-set loss in the morning to Ohio Dominican to sweep Northern Michigan and finish the weekend event at 2-1.
Saturday's results leave the Miners at 11-8 on the season heading into the resumption of their Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule Friday, when they have a date with fourth-ranked and undefeated Missouri-St. Louis on the Tritons' home floor at 6 p.m.
Ohio Dominican 3, Miners 1
The Miners posted a .268 attack percentage in their first match of the day, but lost three of the four sets in which the Panthers were able to make late runs to pull them out.
S&T led for much of the opening set, but ODU used a 10-4 surge to take an 18-15 lead. The Miners were able to tie the set on five occasions, the last at 22-all on a kill by
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb), but the Panthers scored the final three points which included the last two on service aces – among the 12 recorded by ODU in the match.
The Miners then trailed for much of the second set, but did draw to within a point at 18-17 following a kill by
Alina Carrillo (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty). However, Ohio Dominican scored seven of the final 11 points to take a 2-0 lead before the Miners rolled to a 25-14 win in set three, hitting .360 in the set and getting five kills from Mason along the way. The Miners outscored the Panthers 13-4 to complete the third set.
But in the fourth, S&T fell behind 8-1 before using a 12-4 surge to take its first lead when
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) recorded a kill. The set remained tight for much of the balance of it, but with the score tied at 21 after a
Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) service ace, Ohio Dominican scored the next two points and held off S&T to win the match.
Mason finished with 17 kills and Burton with 13 to lead the Miners, while
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion) ended up with 22 assists and
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka) had a team-high 17 digs.
Miners 3, Northern Michigan 0
S&T battled through eight ties and two lead changes to take the opening set from the Wildcats, then never trailed in the final two sets to rebound from its loss earlier in the day and hand Northern Michigan its first loss in the event.
The opening set was tied at 14 before a NMU service error gave the serve back to the Miners, allowing S&T to grab control of the set in the process. Carrillo recorded a kill to complete a three-point spurt that came right after the last tie, then another 3-0 run that included two kills by Carrillo and an ace by Pearson put it well into the Miners' grasp as they won the set 25-22.
S&T scored the first three points of set two and later outscored the Wildcats 9-4 to extend its advantage to as much as seven, as it hit .316 in the second set. The Miners would follow that with a .310 mark in set three, as they raced out to a 6-1 lead to open the set – with Mason recording two kills and an assisted block in that stretch – and never allowed NMU to get any closer than two.
The Miners outscored Northern Michigan 7-2 after it got to within two, then finished the victory with a block from Ply and Carrillo.
Burton had 12 kills and Mason added 11 to lead S&T, while Ply had nine kills and three blocks while posting a .471 attack percentage.
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) finished with 19 assists and Alessio had a team-high 12 kills in the weekend finale.
