TAMPA, Fla. – Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team wrapped up its weekend in Florida on a high note, rallying from a two-set deficit to knock off Central Missouri 3-2 in its final contest at the Tampa Classic Saturday evening. Earlier in the day, S&T suffered a straight set loss to fifth-ranked Tampa by scores of 25-15, 25-19 and 25-19.
Missouri S&T 3, Central Missouri 2
The Miners dropped the first two sets of the match 25-18 and 28-26, with the second set being tied nine times in the latter stages before the Jennies came away victorious. But in set three, the Miners never trailed and took the lead for good at 6-5 and went on to record a .344 attack percentage in the third set after having marks of .132 and .191 in the first two.
Central led 14-11 in the fourth set before the Miners ran off four straight points to take the lead, starting with back-to-back kills by
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb).
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) got the next two points for S&T, first on a kill and then on one of her six blocks in the match to put the Miners into the lead.
The Miners would eventually build their lead to four on three occasions -- the last time at 24-20 after another Mason kill before the Jennies scored three straight to get to within a point – and eventually locked up the set to force a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth, the Miners got out of the gate quickly by scoring the first five points on two kills by
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central), one by Mason, a service ace by
Alina Carrillo (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) and a block by
Hannah Feltz (Wildwood, MO/Eureka). The lead would grow to 8-1 before the Jennies tried to climb back into the set, as they would close the gap on two on four different occasions, but the Miners had an answer every time the lead dropped to two.
At 12-10,
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) had a kill to make it a three-point set, then Mason had a kill at 13-11 to bring the Miners to match point. After the Jennies cut the lead to 14-12, Ply ended the contest with a kill off an assist from
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia).
Four Miners finished the match with double figures in kills, led by Burton with 18 and Mason and Widiker with 17 each. Ply also hit double figures with 11 kills as the Miners finished with a .224 attack percentage, while Ply and Mason also added five blocks apiece to go along with Feltz's six.
Meiko Pearson (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) had 28 digs to lead the Miners, while Arand had 36 assists and
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion) added 27.
Central hit .244 over the first two sets, but was held to a .136 mark over the final three sets. The win for the Miners was their first over the Jennies in nine tries.
#5 Tampa 3, Missouri S&T 0
The Spartans recorded a .286 attack percentage and held the Miners to a .090 mark in the straight-set win. Tampa jumped out to an early 5-2 lead and after S&T had got to within a point at 13-12 on a kill by Ply, ran off 12 of the final 15 points of the set to win 25-15. The Spartans scored the final six points of the opening set.
Tampa led by as many as eight points in the second set as it recorded a .435 attack mark in that stanza. After being behind 19-11, the Miners trimmed the Spartan lead to five late in the set following a Mason kill before the Spartans got the game-winning point. S&T stayed close in the third set, although it never led but was tied with the hosts on two occasions midway through the set.
The Miners tied it at 15 on a Burton kill and again at 16 after an attack error by the Spartans, but Tampa went on a 4-0 run to take the lead for good in the set and capture the match in the process.
Burton led the Miners with nine kills in the match and Mason added seven. The Miners also had four blocks in the match, two apiece by Ply and
Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher), while Mehaffy finished with 13 assists and Pearson with 11 digs.
Missouri S&T returns home for its next nine contests, beginning with Thursday's 7 p.m. home opener against Emporia State to begin the Missouri S&T Volleyball Tournament. The Miners will play four games over three days in that event.
