PARKVILLE, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's volleyball team picked up its third sweep of the season to open its day at the Pirate Invitational on Saturday, but lost the finale of the event to undefeated Park as it finished the weekend at 2-2.
The Miners earned a straight set win over Ottawa before losing 3-1 to Park to close out the four-game weekend with an overall split, and will take a 3-2 overall record into its next match on Tuesday at Quincy. The Miners and Hawks will square off at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
Miners 3, Ottawa 0
Missouri S&T fell behind 3-0 in the opening set, but took its first lead at 14-13 on a kill by
Caleb Rohlwing (Barrington, Ill./Barrington). The Miners never trailed in the set after that, using a 4-0 spurt that was capped by a service ace from
Zachary Carff (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) to go up by five;
Aaron Sallade (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) closed out the set victory with a kill off an assist from
Jordan Orr (Eureka, Mo./Eureka).
The second set went back and forth for the most part, but the Miners were able to take the lead for good thanks to an Ottawa service error and then ran off three straight points late in the set to build a gap. Carff had kills on both ends of that quick run before Sallade again closed out the set with a kill.
S&T fell behind 6-2 to begin the third set and would trail for a good portion of it, but worked its way back and grabbed the lead at 23-22 on an Orr service ace. A block by Sallade and
Tyler Johnwick (Lombard, IL/Glenbard East) took the Miners to match point, which they got two points later when Sallade's kill closed it out.
The Miners had a .277 attack percentage in the match and was led by Sallade's 12 kills.
Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) added nine kills and Carff finished with eight. Rohlwing had a hand in four of S&T's five blocks to go along with seven kills, while Orr recorded 40 assists in the match.
Park 3, Miners 1
The Miners grinded out a win in the first set, one that had 13 ties and four lead changes along the way. Neither side held more than a two-point advantage throughout the set, with S&T finally taking the lead for good at 22-21 following an attack error by the Pirates.
Josh Duett (Grain Valley, Mo./Grain Valley) followed with a service ace, then kills by Sallade and Meyer closed out the 25-23 win for the Miners.
Set two started out in much the same fashion until Park put together a four-point run to take an 11-8 lead. The Miners had a four-point run of their own a few moments later, highlighted by two service aces by Sallade, but the Pirates answered back and took the lead for good in the set with a 5-0 run that gave them a 21-16 lead as they went on to even the match at a set apiece.
S&T got out to an early lead in the third set, taking a 9-4 lead after Duett and Rohlwing combined on a block. The Miners still led by five at 17-12 after the duo of Duett and Rohlwing combined on another block, but the Pirates, who were trailing 20-18, scored seven of the final nine points to capture it. The fourth set was tied at 20 when Meyer and Johnwick combined on a block, but Park responded with the final five points to finish the match off.
Meyer recorded 17 kills to pace the Miners while Sallade finished with 13, while Rohlwing was in on seven blocks.
Grant Edmonds (Shawnee, KS/Edison) finished the match with 43 assists.
