ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team bounced back from an opening set loss to win the second set Friday over fourth-ranked Missouri-St. Louis and was on the cusp of taking the third set as well, but the Tritons rallied to win set three and ended up with a 3-1 win over the Miners at the Mark Twain Building.
Friday's win improved the Tritons – one of two remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division II – to 21-0 overall and 6-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as they extended their overall winning streak to 21 games, GLVC winning streak to 16 contests and home winning streak to 13 games since the Miners won at UMSL in the opening game of last season. S&T fell to 11-9 overall and 2-5 in the GLVC.
The Tritons rolled through the Miners in the opening set, scoring eight of the first nine points and holding S&T to a .135 hitting percentage in the set. UMSL also recorded five service aces and had a .324 attack percentage in the set. S&T rebounded in the early stages of the second set and took its first lead of the match at 8-7 on a kill by
Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka), just moments after she combined with
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) for a block to tie the score.
The Miners used a 3-0 run that included a kill by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) and another block by Feltz to take a 16-14 lead in the set, but after a timeout, UMSL made a 3-0 run of its own to regain the lead. After the teams swapped points over the next few moments, S&T went up 23-22 on a kill by
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and reached set point following a kill by Feltz to bring about another Triton timeout. The Miners then won the set on an UMSL attack error to even the match.
S&T got the jump to open the third set by scoring four of the first five points, but the Tritons rallied back and took a 7-6 lead on a Lexie Rang service ace. UMSL remained in the lead until the Miners scored three straight points, going in front 17-16 on a kill by Ply, but the Tritons took the lead back with the next two points to bring about an S&T timeout. Following the timeout, the Miners ran off three straight points of their own to take a 20-18 lead.
A block by Feltz and Burton gave the Miners a 22-20 advantage and brought about another UMSL timeout, after which the Tritons make a 5-1 run to win the set. After UMSL scored four straight points, S&T got to within one on a Triton service error, but the Tritons got the point to win the set on a kill by Mya Elliott.
UMSL raced out to a quick 4-1 lead to open the fourth set and after a Ply kill later in the set allowed S&T cut that lead to 11-9, the Tritons rattled off the next five points to take a seven-point advantage. The Miners made a quick run to trim that margin to four, but UMSL quickly regained control of the set with a 5-0 run.
Burton led the Miners with 17 kills and Mason finished with 12, but S&T finished the night with a .131 attack percentage to UMSL's .233 mark. Feltz had a career-high eight blocks in the match and Mason recorded five, while
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion) finished with 24 assists and
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka) with 29 digs.
Missouri S&T will face McKendree Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Lebanon, Ill.
