SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – For the second day in succession, Missouri S&T's women's volleyball team fell in a five-set match as the Miners dropped a 3-2 decision Saturday in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match at Drury.
Trailing two sets to one, the Miners (8-6, 1-3 GLVC) took control midway through the fourth set as they used a quick 4-0 run – highlighted by a block by
Madelyn Mason (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) and a combined block by
Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and
Isabelle Monaco (O'Fallon, MO/Living Word Christian) to move in front. After Drury (2-12, 1-3 GLVC) scored a point to stop that run, the Miners scored the next three that included kills by Mason and Ply to build a six-point lead.
The Panthers closed the gap to one moments following the Ply kill before S&T was able to close it out on a kill by Mason.
But in set five, after the Miners scored four of the first five points, the Panthers regrouped and closed the gap to one by the changeover. After the teams switched sides, the Panthers scored the next six points to go up 13-8 and were able to close out the match a short time later.
The Miners recorded a .238 attack percentage in the opening set, but the Panthers posted a .268 mark in winning the set. S&T scored the first point of the match, only to see Drury run off the next five and hold that advantage for the duration of the set to win 25-20.
Drury held the early lead in set two as well, but S&T took its first lead at 8-7 on a kill by
Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion). After the Panthers regained the lead, the Miners got a kill from Mason in the midst of a 4-0 run to take the lead for good in the set. A kill by
Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) gave the Miners a six-point lead at 23-17 before Drury rattled off five straight points to get to within one, but the Miners evened the match after another kill by Mason closed out set two.
The third set, however, saw Drury lead from nearly start to finish as the Miners – who were able to tie the set on three occasions – never held an advantage. After tying the set at 12, the Panthers ran off five of the next six points to grab the lead and later scored five of the next six points to close the set.
S&T got 19 kills from Mason and 16 from Burton, but finished the match with a .144 attack percentage to Drury's mark of .187. Ply had nine assisted blocks and Mason was in on five, while
Mia Alessio (Channahon, IL/Minooka) had 18 digs for S&T and
Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) finished with 32 assists.
S&T will host Rockhurst Friday at 6 p.m. at Gibson Arena.
