ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's volleyball team made a spirited rally from a two-set deficit to force a fifth set Thursday night, but came up short as Oklahoma Baptist took a 3-2 decision from the Miners at Gibson Arena to snap S&T's five-game winning streak.
The Miners (5-3), playing in their third five-set match of the season, trailed two sets to none after losing 25-23 and 25-16 in the first two sets. S&T rolled to a 25-9 win in set three, then overcame a 24-19 deficit in the fourth set to win 27-25 to extend the match before the Bison won 15-13 in the decisive set.
After dropping the first two sets, S&T jumped out to a 12-3 lead at the outset of the third set and never looked back. The Miners held OBU (5-5) to a -.024 attack percentage in the set and got six kills along the way from
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) as part of a career-high 23 that she recorded in the match.
In set four, the teams traded the lead until the Bison ran off seven straight points to take a 17-10 lead and force the Miners into using both of their timeouts during the run. Even after breaking the run, the Miners struggled to gain any real traction as far as cutting until they faced match point at 24-19.
Kills by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) and Mason forced OBU to use its final timeout of the set, but S&T scored the next three points on an OBU attack error, a block by
Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) and a service ace by
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) to tie the set. The Miners had one set point opportunity dashed, but cashed in the next time on a kill by Mason.
S&T carried that momentum into the fifth set as it took a 6-3 lead at the outset, but the Bison – trailing 7-4 – took the lead by the changeover and extended it to 10-7 before the six-point string was halted by a Burton kill. S&T kept trying to cut into the margin and got as close as one on three occasions, but a kill by OBU's Jh'Kyah Head ended the match.
The Miners hit .253 in the match to the Bison's .219, with Mason joined in double figures in the kill column by Burton with 16 and
Alina Carrillo (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) with 14. S&T also had seven blocks in the match – Mason and Offerman were in on three apiece – while
Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) recorded 21 digs and
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) finished with a 33 assists, three short of her season high.
Missouri S&T will play twice on Friday at Gibson Arena, hosting Upper Iowa at 2 p.m. and Northwestern Oklahoma State at 6 p.m.
