WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. – On the brink of being eliminated in straight sets in the quarterfinal round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team stormed back after capturing the third set to win the next two as well and advance to a match in Saturday's semifinals with the nation's second-ranked team.
The Miners lost the first two sets to Rockhurst by 25-21 and 25-22 counts, then found themselves down 22-21 in the third set before coming back to win 27-25. With the momentum gained from that comeback, S&T won the fourth set 25-10 and took control prior to the changeover in set five to win 15-10 and capture the match against the fourth-seeded Hawks.
The win was the seventh in succession for the Miners, who improved to 18-9 on the season and brings them to a date with the last team to beat them – Missouri-St. Louis, whom the Miners will face Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The Tritons went to 29-0 Friday following a straight-set win over Upper Iowa.
S&T spent most of set one in a deficit, but had a 21-20 lead after a service ace by
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka). However, the Hawks (21-8) scored the final five points of the set to win it, then overcame a late deficit in the second set as well to go up 2-0. The Miners led 22-21 after a kill by
Alina Carrillo (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty), but Rockhurst closed the set with the final four points.
In the third set, Rockhurst led by as many as seven points early on, but S&T erased that deficit with a 7-0 run.
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) recorded a kill to start the run, then combined with
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) on a block and moments later, another kill by Carrillo brought about a Rockhurst timeout. The stoppage didn't slow the run, however, as S&T got two more blocks and a solo block by Ply evened the score at 15.
The teams went back-and-forth over the next several points and with the score tied at 24, the Miners challenged a call that went in its favor to bring about a replay of a point. S&T got the lead on a kill by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) and appeared to have won the set on the next point, but Rockhurst won a challenge to even up the score at 25. Burton recorded another kill to put S&T back in front, then the Miners forced a sideout to win the set and extend the match.
The Miners came flying out of the gate in the fourth set, scoring nine of the first 11 points and never looked back. Hitting .421 in the set, the Miners would lead by as many as 12 points at one juncture with Mason, Burton and Carrillo combining for 10 kills during that set.
Rockhurst took a 5-4 lead in the fifth set after a kill by Tera Reberry, but the Miners ran off seven straight points to seize control of matters. Ply opened the run with a kill and a service ace, then a Hawk sideout and a kill by
Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka) took S&T to the changeover with an 8-5 lead. Burton recorded kills on the next three points to extend the lead to six before S&T held off a late comeback effort by the Hawks.
The Miner lead was cut to three twice, but after Rockhurst got it back to 13-10, kills by Carrillo and Mason finished off the match.
Missouri S&T had three players in double figures in the kill column, led by Carrillo with 19. Burton finished the match with 17 kills and Mason added 14, while Ply had nine kills and added seven blocks. Alessio led five players with at least 10 digs with 31, while
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) ended the match with 41 assists.
The win was the first for the Miners at the GLVC Tournament since the 2021 spring event, when S&T reached the championship game.
