Lady Miners cruise in sweep of Panthers

(Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T got out to big leads in each of the first two sets and didn’t look back as it cruised past Kentucky Wesleyan 3-0 (25-12, 25-11, 25-22) on Saturday evening at the Bullman Mult-Purpose Building.

The opening set had one tie early in the set before the Lady Miners (12-12, 6-6 GLVC) began to take control with a 7-2 run building an 8-3 lead. The Panthers (6-16, 0-12 GLVC) got within 11-8 but S&T ran off five straight to build an eight point advantage. From that point it was all Lady Miners as they built their lead to as many as 12 and then closed out the set on a block by Melanie Shehorn and Kaci Herron.

S&T had 11 kills against two errors in 25 chances to finish the set hitting 25 percent. Erin Bekebrede had three kills to lead the Lady Miners. Defensively S&T held KWC to a zero hitting percentage in the frame.

The Lady Miners led from start to finish in the second stanza scoring six of the first seven points then pulled away the rest of the set. S&T had eight service aces in the second set with Bekebrede, Jessica Laughary and Bridget Williams recording two each.

The Lady Miners hit 30.4 percent in the second set and had 10 kills led by Samantha Klump with four and Herron with two. The Panthers hit 6.7 percent and had seven kills led by Jordan Rickert with two.

The third set was the closest of the three featuring six ties and four lead changes. Kentucky Wesleyan led for the early portions before S&T rallied to take an 11-10 lead. The Lady Miners stretched their lead to 15-12 before the Panthers ran off five in a row to regain the lead at 17-15. KWC continued to hold the lead until 20-19 when the Lady Miners ran off five in a row to get to match point at 24-20. A pair of attack errors by Bekebrede and Katie Herington allowed the Panthers to get within 24-22. They couldn’t get any closer though as S&T closed out the match on the next point on a kill by Herington.

The Lady Miners had 15 kills in the final set but committed five errors to hit 28.6 percent. They finished the match hitting 31.3 percent and had 13 service aces. Bekebrede and Samantha Klump had 10 kills apiece to lead S&T. Jennifer Costello dished out 35 assists while Bekebrede had 13 digs.

Kentucky Wesleyan finished the third set hitting 37 percent with 13 kills in 30 chances. The Panthers hit 14 percent for the match and had 28 kills led by Maggie Johnson and Emily Harpenau with five apiece.

The Lady Miners will play their final home game of the 2010 season on Tuesday against Missouri Baptist in a non-conference game beginning at 7 p.m.