ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T held a two sets to one lead over Quincy Friday, but couldn't secure a third set victory as it fell in a hard-fought five-set match to the Hawks Friday night at Gibson Arena in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams.
After losing set one 25-17, the Miners (7-4, 0-1 GLVC) won the next two sets by counts of 25-23 and 25-20 to go up 2-1. However, the Hawks (11-1, 1-0 GLVC) rallied from a six-point deficit in set four to force a fifth set, then overcame an early four-point lead built by the Miners in the decisive stanza to win 17-15 and take the match.
Quincy won the opening set by hitting .250 and holding S&T to a .000 mark, using a stretch where it outscored the Miners 10-3 to build a 10-point lead in the set. However, the Miners rebounded in the second set as they overcame an 19-14 Hawk lead and outscored the guests 11-4 to even the match.
Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) started the late run with a kill and then combined with
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) on a block, before S&T drew even at 22 after forcing an attack error by the Hawks.
The Miners closed the set by scoring three of the final four points with
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) having a hand in all three, two coming on kills and the third on an assisted block with
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion).
S&T followed that by coming from behind again in a back-and-forth third set, using a late 8-0 run to capture the set. Down 20-17, the Miners got three kills from Mason, two from
Abigail Widiker (Hammond, WI/Saint Croix Central) and one from Ply along the way to move in front in the match.
In set four, the Miners proceeded to slowly build a six-point lead at 14-8 after a kill by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South), but the Hawks chipped away at the lead and caught up at 19 after a Miner attack error. The set was tied at 20, 21 and 22 before the Hawks scored three of the final four points to extend the match into a fifth set.
The Miners again took the early advantage in the fifth, scoring five of the first six points and led 7-3 after a kill by Burton. However, a 5-0 run by the Hawks gave them the lead at the changeover, but S&T regained the lead and took a 13-10 advantage when Ply and Mason combined on a block. Quincy scored three straight to even things up, then the Miners went back in front on a Mason kill before Quincy answered back to go up 15-14.
A kill by Ply tied the set at 15, but the Hawks captured the next two points to wrap up the match in their favor.
The Miners finished the night with a .181 attack percentage and had three players in double figures in kills, led by 19 from Mason.
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) added 16, moving her 10 kills away from 1,000 in her S&T career, while Ply finished the night with 13 kills. Ply was also in on seven blocks as was Mason, while Offerman recorded nine blocks in the match.
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) finished with 33 assists in the contest, while
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka) had 24 digs to lead S&T.
The Miners will return to action Saturday with a 3 p.m. match against Illinois Springfield at Gibson Arena. UIS (3-8, 0-1 GLVC) dropped its conference opener Friday in four sets at Maryville.
