The Missouri Southern volleyball team played a total of four games in two days last weekend at the 2012 Pittsburg State Classic at Pittsburg High School.

The Lions, (0-4), opened up the day against Illinois-Springfield.

After losing the first two sets to the Prairie Stars, the Lions came back in set three to win 25-11 before losing the fourth and final set.

Sophomore Katie Politte led the way for the Lions with 15 kills and 13 digs, while junior Nai Montano added nine kills. Sophomore Danielle Severns had eight kills.

Freshman Abby Finder had 36 assists in the match, and Junior Sydney Potts contributed 16 digs.

In Southern’s second match of the day, against Rockhurst University, freshman Callie Whetstone had team-high 11 kills.  

Politte had double figures in kills with 10, and Finder passed out 29 assists.  Potts had nine digs.

The Lions won the first set 25-23 but lost the next sets 20-25, 10-25, and 12-25.

“We just need to learn how to play together, that’s the biggest thing,” Head Coach Trish Knight, said. “It’s a whole new team, and I think it’s team work and learning what each other is going to do. Getting them to work off a base better, we don’t transition as quick as we need so a lot of transition work.”

In day two of the Classic, Southern split the first four sets with William Jewell in the opener, but the Cardinals won the fifth set, 15-10 for the win. Individual set scores were 25-17, 13-25, 25-21, 8-25 and 10-15.

 Politte led the way in this match with a double-double, 18 kills and 12 digs, while Payton Graves added 11 kills of her own.

Abby Finder dished out 37 assists and 15 digs for a double-double of her own.

In the final match of the day against Harding, the Bisons won in straight sets by the scores of 17-25, 18-25, and 17-25.

“We played our best match against Harding, and it probably didn’t look like it score-wise,” Knight said. “But they’re just a good team, and they’ve got a lot of older kids.”

Politte led the Lions with six kills against the Bisons.

Finder dished out 20 assists, and Potts had 14 digs.  

The first home game for the Lions was scheduled for Tuesday, but due to a scheduling conflict between Southern and the University of Illinois-Springfield, it was cancelled.

Instead, the team scrimmaged each other in three sets. Southern will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Colorado for the Colorado State-Pueblo Invitational.