LEBANON, Ill. - The S&T men's volleyball continued action with a visit to McKendree where the Miners fell to the Bearcats in four sets Friday evening.
 
The Miners dropped the first two sets by counts of 25-9 and 25-20 before winning the third set 25-23, but dropped the final set 25-9 to fall to 3-7 on the season.
 
In the first set, the Bearcats got out to an early 3-1 lead when Grogan Kraus (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) got a kill to cut the deficit to one, but the Miners never got any closer after McKendree responded with three straight points. A few moments later while holding a 7-4 lead, the Bearcats extended the lead to double digits after a 7-0 run and would finish the opening set by outscoring S&T 11-4. 
 
In the second set, the teams went back and forth in the early stages and S&T took a 5-4 lead following a kill by Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) and a Bearcat attack error. S&T tied the set again when Caleb Rohlwing (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) had a kill to knot the score at eight, but McKendree responded with a 4-0 run where Brayden Kuruzovich (State College, Penn./State College Area School District) ended the run with a kill to cut the deficit to three at 12-9. S&T cut the deficit to four on three separate occasions later in the set until McKendree had back-to-back points to increase the lead to six before going on to win the set.
 
After dropping the first two sets, the Miners came out aggressive and jumped on top in the third set on back-to-back points with a kill from Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) and a service ace from Kuruzovich, then Kraus added a kill that made it 3-1. McKendree overcame S&T's early lead with a 4-0 run on a kill, but ultimately gave it back to S&T after a service error that made it 9-8. The set went back-and-forth before Kuruzovich started a 3-0 run on a kill, where Sallade closed it with a kill that gave S&T a 17-16 lead.

McKendree would grab a 23-22 advantage with a 3-0 run, but S&T would answer with a 3-0 run of its own to finish the scoring to win the third set as Meyer recorded a kill for the set-winning point.
 
In the fourth set, the Bearcats erupted for nine straight points to begin the set before Kyle Wilson committed an attack error to get the Miners on the board. S&T was able to cut the deficit to eight on two separate occasions, but the Bearcats used a huge surge later in the set to complete the victory, outscoring S&T 13-5 to end the set and win the match.
 
The Miners were led in kills by Meyer with 13, while Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) contributed 10 and Meyer added two service aces. Kuruzovich led S&T with 32 assists while adding two kills. On the defensive side, Owen Price (Bay Shore, New York/Bay Shore) and Kraus led with five digs each and Kraus led with a team-high two assisted blocks.
 
The Bearcats (4-2) were led in kills by Bryce Wetjen with 11, while Sam Haskin added nine while Tyler Poulsen led McKendree with five digs. 
 
The Miners will travel to Lindenwood tomorrow evening with first serve at 7:30 p.m. in St. Charles, Mo. 
 
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