ARKADELPHIA, Ar. – Missouri S&T Women's Volleyball split a pair of games on day one of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational to open the 2024 season.
Game One Recap at Ouachita Baptist (0-3 L)
To start the first day of the invitational, the Miners were swept by the Ouachita Baptist Tigers.
In the first set, Missouri S&T hit for .208 but fell 25-20. The Tigers dominated the rest of the match, winning 25-12 in set two and 25-16 in the final set.
Alina Carrillo (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) led the Miners with nine kills, while Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) added four. In her first game as a Miner, Madison Smith (Boonville, MO/Boonville) recorded four total blocks with a kill. Avery Jones (Broken Arrow, OK/Broken Arrow) had 12 digs.
Game Two Recap vs. Montevallo (3-1 W)
Missouri S&T secured a 3-1 victory over Montevallo to close out the first day of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational.
The Miners won set one convincingly, 25-15. Despite an early back-and-forth, Missouri S&T held a five-point lead, highlighted by a kill from Smith, making the score 9-4. Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) extended the lead to 19-10 with a kill. Mya McClain's (Fort Dodge, IA/St. Edmond) ace capped off a four-point run to finish the set.
They tallied 12 kills to only five for the Falcons in the first set. They also hit for .292, while Montevallo hit in the negatives.
Set two was a different story as the Tigers responded with a 25-17 win. After S&T was up 4-3 early, Montevallo countered via a seven-point run to take a 10-4 lead. Missouri S&T were within two points after Carrillo made it 13-11 with a kill but the Miners could not come back to tie the match at 1-1.
In the third set, the Falcons took an early 6-1 lead over the Miners. Four points in five attempts, however, got S&T back into it as they trailed by two. Anaya Roberts (San Antonio, TX/Brennan) tied the score and a bad set gave the Miners their first lead at 12-11. More back-and-forth play continued through the later parts of the set until the Falcons went up 24-22. The Miners rattled off three straight points to take a 25-24 lead but a kill from Nikol Antova kept the Falcons alive. Carrillo gave S&T their 26th point and Lexi Kosmopolis (O'Fallon, IL/Newsome) collected her first kill to give the Miners a 27-25 set three win.
Similar to the first set, Missouri S&T took a convincing fourth set as they won 25-15. They started out the dominant set with an early 11-4 lead which quickly turned into 15-6. Another Smith kill gave S&T a 10-point lead at 19-9. For the second time in the game, the Miners put up four straight points to close out the set. A bad set gave S&T their first win of the 2024 season.
The Miners outserved the Falcons with 12 aces to seven. They also recorded an astounding 12 blocks to only four on the Falcons side.
Burton led the team with 14 kills and hit for .346. Carillo followed her with nine kills and Smith chipped in seven. Roberts added five and setter Elise Mehaffy (Marion, IA/Marion) totaled three. Mehaffy added 20 assists, five blocks and eight digs. Defensively, Jones held the line with 15 digs. Smith added seven total blocks and Roberts collected five. Madison Offerman (Herscher, IL/Herscher) recorded four blocks.
This match gave Missouri S&T their first win of the 2024 season and Jacquie Cason her first career win as a head coach.
What's Next
Missouri S&T is back in action on Saturday with a pair of matches. They will face Southeastern Oklahoma State at 10:30 a.m. and St. Mary's at 3:30 p.m.
