MANOA, Hi. – Missouri S&T fell in their second match against Hawaii but improved on Thursday night's overall score by seven as they lost 14-25, 18-25, 17-25.
Set 1:
Hawaii came out firing on all cylinders, taking the first eight points before the Miners got on the board off a service error. Back-to-back kills by
Nate Meyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) would bring the score to 3-9. The Miners struggled to put a run together though, allowing Hawaii to pull away bit by bit until they led 23-10. S&T's longest scoring run of the first came at this point in the set, as they score three in a row to cut the deficit to ten before losing the set 14-25.
Set 2:
The start of the second was more stable for the Miners, as they match Hawaii point for point in the opening rallies. When the Rainbow Warriors scored three straight, it looked like they may pull away early again, but S&T answered with three straight of their own to tie the game at 7-7. At 9-10, Hawaii put together their first unanswered run of the set to pull ahead 13-9. For the most part, the Miners did a good job of keeping the Rainbow Warriors from going on scoring runs to pull away, but they were unable to put together more than one run of their own and would lose the set 18-25.
Set 3:
Much like the second, S&T and Hawaii traded points early in the third before a three-point run gave the Rainbow Warriors a three-point lead. At 11-14, the Miners gave up five straight to Hawaii to fall further behind, 11-19. Unable to string more than two points together at a time, the Miners were unable to close the gap and fell 17-25 in the final set of the match.
Meyer had a solid outing, recording eleven kills and three aces and
Caleb Rohlwing (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) added another two blocks to his season total. The team's hitting percentage improved significantly from last game against Hawaii with .175 (last match was .053).
The Miners will have a break next week before facing Maryville at home on March 5th.
