Bolivar, Mo. – The SBU Bearcats concluded their penultimate home game of the 2025 season with a 1-3 loss to the Missouri S&T Miners. This brings Southwest Baptist to a record of 8-17 on the season (1-9 GLVC).
 
Missouri S&T looked to be in control early in the first set with a 3-7 lead. However, the Bearcats battled back with a 6-1 run featuring three kills from freshman Julia Marinesi to go ahead 9-8. The game remained close with SBU maintaining a small lead until a 5-1 run in favor of the Miners tied the game at 23. A kill from freshman Gabriela Dupree and a response from Missouri S&T moved the tie to 24. The Bearcats followed with another kill from Dupree and a service ace from freshman Allie Hawk to claim the set victory 26-24.
 
SBU was unable to keep their momentum going in the second set as the Miners took an early 1-5 lead. Once again, the team in purple battled back, going on a 5-1 run to take a 10-8 lead. This time, however, the Bearcats were unable to maintain their lead. SBU surrendered nine of the last 11 points to concede the set 16-25.
 
The Bearcats came out determined to not let the third set end as the second had, taking an early 5-2 lead. Four points in a row for the Miners gave them the lead at 5-6, and the score proceeded to stay very close for a majority of the third set. Then, when tied at 16-16, Missouri S&T scored another four consecutive points to take the lead. Southwest Baptist kept battling hard, but they were unable to salvage anything from the set, falling 22-25. The fourth set of the match proved to be the final set. After each team scored five to begin the set, the Miners pulled away and never looked back. The team in green won the set 15-25, claiming the overall match victory.
 
Dupree led the team in kills on the night with 14, pushing her north of 300 kills on the season. She also added 10 digs to her stat line to secure her ninth double-double of the year. Senior Katie Pogue led the team in both assists (23) and digs (14) to get her ninth double-double of the season as well. Her 23 assists bring her past the 400 assist mark for the season. Other notable Bearcats in the game were senior Rory Stanley with eight total blocks and Hawk with 19 assists and two service aces.
 
Southwest Baptist returns to action tomorrow for their final home game of the season against Maryville University (13-11) at 3:00pm from the Meyer Wellness Center.