ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T men's volleyball team evened its record in its inaugural season of play Wednesday night with a straight set win over Missouri Baptist at Gibson Arena, as the Miners won the match by scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-13 to improve to 6-1 at home this season.

The Miners (9-9) had control of the match throughout the night, using big runs in each set to pull away. In set one, the Miners had a pair of 4-0 runs – the latter capped by back-to-back blocks by Grogan Kraus (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) – to take an 11-5 lead. The Spartans got to within four at 12-8 before S&T pulled away in the set with an 8-1 run that started on back-to-back kills from Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey). Kraus would add two additional blocks to help the Miners close out the first set.

In the second set, MBU got off to a 4-1 lead and was up 7-4 before S&T responded with a 8-1 run. Ryan Sword (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) tied the set at seven with a service ace, then Kraus tied it at eight with a kill before Jonathan Piggott (Roundlake, Ill./Grayslake Central) added back-to-back service aces as S&T came out of the run holding a 12-8 lead.
 
Leading 15-12, S&T put the set away for good with six straight points off the service arm of Brayden Kuruzovich (State College, Penn./State College Area School District) as he had a service ace and MBU recorded five errors to allow the Miners to pull away. S&T ended up closing out the set victory on three consecutive errors by the Spartans.
 
In the final set, S&T came out swinging as it opened the set with a 10-2 run that started on a Kraus kill, as Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) added four kills while Sword added two kills. Kuruzovich capped it off with a service ace.
 
S&T increased the lead to double digits at 16-6 and MBU got no closer than eight the rest of the way. S&T finished the set by outscoring the Spartans 9-4, beginning with a kill and a service ace by Zachary Carff (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic).
 
The Miners were led in kills by Carff and Duett with eight each and Kuruzovich had 19 assists. Defensively, Kraus led S&T with four blocks as Adam Kokal (St. Louis, MO/Parkway Central) added three.
 
The Miners will take a nine-day layoff until March 24, when S&T will host Judson University at 7 p.m. in Gibson Arena. 
 
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