ROLLA, Mo. – The Drury Panthers opened play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference on Thursday with a 3-2 win over Missouri S&T in Rolla (27-29, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16 and 15-12). Drury improved to 8-1 and 1-0 in the league while the Miners dropped to 4-6 and 0-1 in the conference.
 
Sarah Kite led the Panthers with 27 kills tying her for the fourth most ever by a Drury player in a single match. Courtney Henderson was the last Panther to reach that total when she had 27 kills on Sept. 14, 2007 against Quincy. Kite finished with a .387 hitting percentage in the match. Kendra Sater had 55 assists while Bree Schmidt added 28 digs.
 
Drury lost two of the first three sets but forced a fifth set with a 25-16 win in the fourth. The Panthers jumped out an 8-3 lead in the deciding fifth set and hung on to win 15-12.
 
The win marks Drury's best start to a season through nine games since 1993 and is their best start since they became a NCAA-II program in 1994.
 
The Panthers are on the road on Saturday as Drury takes on Indianapolis in their second GLVC game of the season. Game time is 2 p.m. (Central) at the Ruth Lily Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
 
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