ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team bounced back from its loss Thursday night to record a pair of wins on Friday, taking a straight set decision from Upper Iowa and winning late in the day in four sets over Northwestern Oklahoma State at Gibson Arena.
The Miners (7-3), who have won seven of their last eight decisions, beat Upper Iowa by scores of 25-21, 26-24 and 30-28 before splitting the first two sets with NWOSU. After winning 25-18 and losing 28-26 in the early segments, the Miners capped the night with wins of 25-17 and 25-10 over the Rangers.
Miners 3, Upper Iowa 0
The Miners had a battle with the visiting Peacocks (4-5) all afternoon, with the final two sets going beyond the 25-point mark before S&T came away victorious.
S&T led for a majority of the first set, hitting .385 behind four kills from
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) and three apiece from
Alina Carrillo (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) and
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla). With the set tied at five, the Miners scored five of the next six points to take command and maintained a three- or four-point lead for the much of the time.
The second set, however, saw 11 ties and five lead changes as the teams swapped runs throughout the set. Upper Iowa scored six of the first nine points, only to see S&T climb back and draw even at nine. The Miners later used a 5-0 run to take a 15-11 lead after a kill by Mason, but the Peacocks answered with seven of the next eight to go up 18-16.
S&T had two set points at 24-22 that Upper Iowa held off, but a block by
Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka) and
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion) put the Miners back in the lead and an attack error by the Peacocks followed to close out the set.
The final set also saw numerous ties and lead changes – the advantage was swapped seven times to go along the 12 ties – but the Miners had to overcome an early five-point deficit in the set. S&T trailed 4-0 and 10-5 early on, but outscored the Peacocks 8-2 to take its first lead of the set at 13-12 following a block by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South).
However, Upper Iowa regained the advantage and led 19-16 to force an S&T timeout, but maintained the lead until the Miners caught up at 22 on a Mason kill. The set was then tied six more times before S&T scored the final three points to close the match, getting two kills from
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) in that span.
Mason led the Miners with 11 kills in the contest, while Carrillo and Ply had 10 apiece. S&T, who hit .327 and held UIU to a .147 mark, also recorded 11 blocks in the match – Mason, Ply and
Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) all had a hand in four apiece.
Miners 3, Northwestern Oklahoma State 1
The Miners had a block party in their nightcap Friday, recording 15 and holding the Rangers (3-7) to a .099 attack percentage to complete the sweep of their contests on the day.
S&T went back-and-forth during the front end of the first set, but went up for good at 12-11 on a kill by Burton and gradually pulled away during the latter stages of the set. But in set two, NWOSU overcame an early deficit and led for most of the second half of the set.
The Miners held off four set points and got two of their own at 25-24 and 26-25, but couldn't finish the Rangers as they scored the final three points to even the match at a set apiece.
From that point, the Miners took command as the Rangers held the lead only three times during the final two sets. S&T went up for good in set three with a 5-0 run, then pulled away in the latter stages after NWOSU had closed to within three at 17-14. The fourth set was all S&T, as it hit .455 and used a 9-1 burst to break the set open.
Carrillo recorded 16 kills and hit .484 in the match to lead S&T, while Burton ended up with 15 kills. The Miners also got nine digs apiece from
Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) and
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka), while
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) and Mehaffy each finished with 24 assists.
Missouri S&T will open its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule next Friday when it hosts Quincy at 6 p.m. at Gibson Arena.
