While most eyes will be on the U.S. Cellular Miner’s Bowl this weekend, the Missouri Soutthern volleyball Lions have their sights set on beating Pittsburg State University as well.

The Lions will host the Gorillas at 7 p.m. tonight at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. PSU currently stands at 7-7, and last year Southern beat the Gorillas 3-2. The Lions take every opponent seriously, but the match against the Gorillas is one the Lions look forward to.

“We have been getting mentally and physically prepared,” said senior Ashley Mehrer “We’re ready to show both crowds what we can do; both crowds bring tons of fans.

“We’re fired up, and ready to beat them.”

Lions head coach Chris Willis said last week that attitude is one the team needs to keep.

“You can’t look ahead,” Willis said. “We’re not afraid, because we can’t control what happens a week from now.

“If you do look ahead, you lose sight of your next match, and we’re not good enough for that.”

The day after the PSU match the Lions will take on the Harding (Ark.) University Bison, whose record is 9-3 and beat the Lions last season 3-0. The Lions will be doing double duty that day, also hosting the Drury Panthers(6-8). Southern bested Drury last year (1-3).

“We take them as they come; point-by-point,” sophomore Teyoni Wilson said.

Other games on tap include a Sept. 27 date with the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, who beat the Lions 3-2 last year, and the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Cougars invade Southern for a Sept. 28 contest. The Cougars beat the Lions 3-0 last season.

The Lions say they just need to stay the course this year.

“If we play how we have been playing, we will do well,” sophomore Sarah Joles said.

Sophomore Ashley Hill echoed those sentiments.

“If we continue to play together, we will do well,” she said.

Last weekend was a mixed bag for the Lions as they downed Fort Hays State 3-0 Sept. 15, dropped a Sept. 16 match with eight-ranked Washburn 3-1, and bounced back to beat Southwest Baptist University 3-2 on Sept. 19. All three were road matches.

At SBU, things did not get off to a promising start for the Lions. Southern dropped games one and two by the scores of 29-31 and 26-30, but rebounded and took the next three, 30-20, 30-27 and 17-15 to defeat the Bearcats three games to two.

After getting down 2-0, the Lions (15-2, 3-1 MIAA) hit .364 as a team in game three and easily defeated SBU 30-20. The game was tied six times but after the last tie at 15, the Lions went on a 15-5 run to end the game.

Despite out blocking and out killing eighth ranked Washburn, the Lions fell on the road three games to one. The loss put Washburn in sole possession of first place in the MIAA West.

Southern held Washburn close the first two games, losing 28-30, and 26-30. The Lady Blues put up a .164 and .103 attack average in the first two games, while Southern hit .100 in game one and .145 in game two.

The Lions came together in game three, limiting Washburn to a .085 attack average and beating the Lady Blues 30-19.

Washburn jumped out to a 15-11 lead in game four, before Southern tied the game at 19, one of 10 tied scores in the game.