ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team forced a fifth set with Rockhurst Friday night at Gibson Arena, but ended up on the losing side of the ledger as the Hawks won the fifth set 15-12 and the Great Lakes Valley Conference match three sets to two.
The Miners (8-7, 1-4 GLVC), playing in their fourth five-set match since conference play began and seventh such match of the season, swapped sets with the Hawks (13-3, 3-2 GLVC) all night, as the Hawks took the first and third sets and the Miners won sets two and four before Rockhurst came away with the decisive fifth set.
Rockhurst hit .345 to the Miners' .026 in running away with the opening set by a 25-13 count, but the Miners took command early in set two, gradually building its lead to as much as nine points at 19-10 before eventually winning 25-17. S&T recorded a .432 attack percentage in the second set with only one error along the way.
The third set was close at the outset before Rockhurst ran off nine straight points to take a 20-10 lead. S&T made a game effort to make up the difference, cutting the margin down to four on two occasions before the Hawks ended up winning 25-20.
S&T, however, used a strong rally in the fourth set to extend the match as they overcame a six-point deficit at the midway point. Rockhurst led 14-8, but a Hawk service error opened the door for a 9-3 Miner surge to tie the set at 17 following a block by
Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka). The set was tied again at 18 and at 21 before S&T got the lead for good on a kill by
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb). Abigial Widiker got a kill for the next S&T to give the Miners a two-point lead and a kill by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) ended the set in S&T's favor.
The Miners never led in the fifth set, although they had the set tied at seven and again at eight after the changeover following kills by Mason on both occasions. After the second Mason kill, Rockhurst scored the next three points and never trailed again, even after S&T averted one match point with Mason's team-leading 15
th kill of the night. Tera Reberry followed with a kill for the Hawks to close out the match.
S&T, who hit .219 in the match, also got 13 kills from Burton and 11 from
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) in the contest. Feltz was in on all six blocks recorded by the Miners, while
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion) had a team-high 26 assists and
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka) finished with 22 digs.
The Miners will host William Jewell Saturday in a 3 p.m. contest at Gibson Arena.
