ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's volleyball team opened its season on Jan. 14 with a win and returns to the court for a busy weekend, as it will play four games over two days at the Pirate Invitational hosted by Park University in Parkville, Mo.

The Miners will play twice on Friday as they will take on Morningside at noon and Viterbo at 4 p.m., then open play on Saturday against Ottawa at noon before closing the weekend of action against Park at 4 p.m.

S&T opened its campaign with a straight set win over Dominican (Ill.), hitting .310 and pulling away in the latter stages of each of the three sets to pick up the win.  Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) led the way for the Miners with 18 kills – nine of which came in the third set – while Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) also reached double figures in kills with 12.  The Miners also had six blocks in the match, of which Caleb Rohlwins had a hand in four and Meyer in three.

Grant Edmonds (Shawnee, KS/Edison) recorded 37 assists to lead the Miners in that opening match, while Sallade finished with 11 digs and Edmonds with 10.  S&T held Dominican to a .156 attack percentage in the match.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Morningside will be opening its 2024 season with the match against S&T and is coming off a season in which its finished 8-12.  Natan Alves led the Mustangs in kills with 248 last season, while Tharen Cox had 49 blocks along the net.

Viterbo also begins play on Friday, facing Brescia before its match with the Miners late Friday afternoon.  The Hawks lost their leader in kills in Jacob Nonn, who accounted for over one-third of them last season, but Alex Kratzenstein is back with the 125 kills and 65 blocks he recorded last year.

Ottawa begins play this weekend after finishing with a 9-12 mark last spring.  Akiel Williams, who had 224 kills and 102 blocks last season, returns along with Grant Younie (120 kills) and Kadeem Morris, who had 60 blocks last season.

Park, like the other three teams, also opens its season this weekend and went 27-2 a year ago, losing in the NAIA national semifinals to Benedictine-Mesa.  Joao Friedrich finished last season with a team-leading 320 kills and returns along with Mihailo Ivanovic, who led the Pirates with 86 blocks.