ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T men's volleyball team returned to the court Friday and recorded a straight-set victory over Judson, winning the match 25-19, 25-21 and 25-13 to move above the .500 mark for the first time in its inaugural season and move to 7-1 in Gibson Arena.

In the early stages of the first set, the Miners (10-9) and Eagles (18-6) exchanged points until the Eagles went on a 6-1 run to take a 9-6 lead. However, S&T went on a 6-2 run of its own that was started on an Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) kill and eventually closed the run after back-to-back kills by Zachary Carff (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey).

The Eagles closed to within 18-17 later in the set, but the Miners put together a 5-0 run that started on a Meyer kill and was capped on a pair of service ace by Caleb Rohlwing (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) to go up 23-17.  Judson scored the next two points, but then two straight attacking errors to allow the Miners to take the first set.
 
S&T and Judson swapped the lead early in set two, but with the set tied at seven, the Eagles scored five of eight points to take a 12-10 lead. The Miners responded with three consecutive kills by Meyer, Carff and Rohlwing to go back in front.

Judson regained the lead at 15-14, but S&T responded with three consecutive points that included an Adam Kokal (St. Louis, MO/Parkway Central) service ace. However, the Eagles answered back with a 4-1 run where all four of the Eagles' points came off Miners errors that gave them a 19-18 advantage. But after Judson reclaimed the lead, S&T closed out the set on a 7-2 run where Meyer contributed two kills and Rohlwing added a block before Sallade won the set with a kill.  
 
S&T dominated the final set, getting out to a 6-2 lead and then using another 6-2 run later in the set to put the contest out of reach. The latter run started on a kill by Meyer and included service aces by Rohlwing and Meyer to push the S&T lead to 18-9.  The Miners would close the match by outscoring the Eagles 7-4, ending the match on a Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) kill.
 
The Miners were led in kills by Meyer and Sallade with nine each, while Brayden Kuruzovich (State College, Penn./State College Area School District) dished out 29 assists. Defensively, Grogan Kraus (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) led with four blocks and Rohlwing and Kuruzovich added three blocks each.  
 
The Eagles were led in kills by Brendan Gibbons with seven and Trevor Kozlowski with six.  
 
The Miners will host the Saints of Thomas More Saturday at 1 p.m. in its final home match of the season in Gibson Arena.
 
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