ST.LOUIS, Mo. - The S&T men's volleyball began the weekend with a 3-2 victory over Alderson Broaddus Friday evening at Maryville University. The teams swapped set wins throughout the match, as the Miners won the first set 25-23, dropped the second 25-22, won the third 25-16 and dropped the fourth set 25-19 before
Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) clinched the victory with his 23rd kill of the night to take the fifth set 15-12.
In the early stages of the first set, the squads went back-and-forth and was tied at five before built a 9-6 lead. S&T (4-8) answered with four straight points with back-to-back kills by
Grogan Kraus (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) and Meyer, followed by an assisted block by Kraus and
Brayden Kuruzovich (State College, Penn./State College Area School District) to go up 10-9. With the set tied at 14-14, S&T responded with a 4-1 run that started on a kill by
Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) and was capped off on an attack error by Nate Rogers to give S&T a 20-15 lead. The Battlers responded with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 20, then the teams exchanged points the rest of the set until a service error by the Battlers allowed S&T to win the set.
In the second set, the Battlers opened with a 3-1 start before
Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) cut the deficit to one with a kill. S&T cut the deficit to one on four separate occasions, the last at 7-6 before the Battlers scored four straight points to go up 11-6. However, S&T answered with a 4-1 run starting with back-to-back kills from Meyer and
Zachary Carff (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and a Meyer service ace to make it 12-10.
Later in the set, the Miners tied it at 17 on a service ace by Carff, but the Battlers responded with a 4-1 run to go back in front and never trailed for the balance of the set as it evened the match.
The Miners came out in the third set swinging, starting the set on a 5-1 run as Meyer started it with back-to-back kills and Sallade added two kills of his own along the way. The Battlers came back with four straight points to tie the set at nine, but the Miners responded with another 5-1 spurt that started on an assisted block by Meyer and
Ryan Sword (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson); Sword recorded three assisted blocks in a row to give S&T a 14-10 lead. Holding a 15-12 advantage, S&T erupted on a 7-1 burst run to go up 22-13 and Kuruzovich was able to later close the set with a service ace.
In the early stage of the fourth set, the Miners grabbed a 5-4 lead after Kraus and Carff combined on an assisted block, but the Battlers responded with three consecutive points to take a 7-5 lead. S&T responded with three points in row of its own, capped off on a Carff kill, to go back in front 8-7. With the set tied at 13, the Battlers used a 4-1 spurt to regain the lead and led the rest of the way, using a 6-1 run following a Meyer kill that drew the Miners to within a point to force the match to a fifth set.
In the final set, Meyer scored the first three points on three straight kills as the Miners took an early four-point lead, then Battlers cut the deficit to one at 5-4 on a kill by Loic Nanchen. That ended up becoming the closest Alderson Broaddus would get, as S&T responded with a 6-2 spurt where all six points came from Battler errors. Each team would exchange points until Meyer sealed the victory on a kill.
The Miners were led in kills by Meyer with his 23 kills, while Sallade added 11 and Kuruzovich finished with 49 assists. The Miners had four services aces that came from
Adam Kokal (St. Louis, MO/Parkway Central), Meyer, Kuruzovich and Carff. On the defensive side,
Owen Price (Bay Shore, New York/Bay Shore) led with 12 digs while Sallade, Kraus and Sword each added three blocks.
The Battlers (2-7) were led in kills by Nachen with 13, while Andrew Haber had 31 assists.
The Miners will return to action Saturday afternoon as they Central State in a rematch at 2 p.m. at Maryville University. The Marauders beat the Miners in straight sets in late January in Wilberforce, Ohio.
