HAMMOND, IN  -  The Miners closed out the Midwest Region Crossover in style Saturday morning, sweeping Roosevelt 3-0 to finish the weekend undefeated. S&T set a program record with 15 service aces, the most ever recorded by the team in a three-set match.

Set 1
Elly Decker (Manhattan, IL/Lincoln Way West) and Selin Ozdemir (Ankara, Turkey/TED Ankara Koleji) set the tone early, sparking a 5-0 start to the opening frame. Decker notched three kills during the run while Ozdemir added a pair of aces. The Miners continued to roll, stringing together 5-0 and 4-0 bursts — both featuring block assists from Danielle Wilke (Palmer Lake, CO/Palmer Ridge) — to build a commanding lead. A late ace and a pair of kills from Ozdemir sealed the dominant 25-8 first-set win.

Set 2
In the second set, Kate Zipprich (Hardin, IL/Calhoun) made her presence felt early with a kill and a block assist as S&T jumped ahead 3-0. Roosevelt battled to stay close, never trailing by more than four and even grabbed their first lead of the match at 9-8. Decker steadied the Miners with a kill to spark an eight-point service run that included two more aces for #7, pushing S&T ahead 16-9. The Miners followed with a 6-0 surge — featuring five straight kills and capped by an ace from Annie Arand (Washington, MO/St. Francis Borgia) — to make it 23-11. Roosevelt rallied late, but S&T closed the set 25-16 on a Lexi Kosmopolis (O'Fallon, IL/Newsome) kill assisted by Arand.

Set 3
Roosevelt came out strong in the third, taking a 9-5 advantage, but S&T answered right back with a 5-0 run that included two aces from Avery Patton (Lathrop, MO/Truman) along with kills from Ozdemir and Wilke. The Lakers tied it again midway through, but the Miners surged ahead 22-18 behind a 5-1 burst. Roosevelt leveled the score one final time at 22-all before an attack error opened the door for S&T to finish it off — and the Miners didn't miss. Mehaffy delivered an ace, and Ozdemir hammered down the final point to complete the sweep and the perfect weekend.

Six Miners contributed to the record-setting performance in the service game, with Arand, Decker, Mehaffy, Ozdemir, Patton, and Addie Schoenberger (Menomonee Falls, WI/Hamilton Sussex) each recording at least one ace. Ozdemir led the team in kills with 13 on 34 attempts, while Mya McClain's (Fort Dodge, IA/St. Edmond) 12 digs set a new personal-best in her time with S&T.

What's Next
The Miners return to conference play with road matches against Missouri-St. Louis and McKendree next week.

Sign up for our email blast at https://minerathletics.com/subscribe.aspx
Follow Miners Volleyball on X and Instagram at @miners_wvb.