The Missouri Southern volleyball team played some of its best volleyball last Friday, but didn’t get the result they hoped for. Southern fell in three sets at home to Truman State University. Individual set scores were 20-25, 10-25 and 23-25. 

The Lions (0-12, 0-3 MIAA) held tight with Truman in the first set, but the Bulldogs (9-3, 3-1 MIAA) pushed ahead 11-6 mid way through the set. The lions got the score to 21-16, but Truman again pushed forward and led 23-16. Southern would cut the score to 24-20, but a Southern attack error would end the set. 

Set two was all Truman as the Bulldogs hit .562 in the set, with nine kills and zero errors. 

In the third set the lions started the match on a 3-1 run, but the two teams would trade points and eventually tying the set at four, five, six, eight, and nine before the Bulldogs opened up a 13-10 lead. Southern got to within in one twice more in the set, but couldn’t get any closer. 

“We played a good first game and a good third game and the middle game I don’t know what happened to us, Head Coach Trish Knight, said.” “But I was pretty please with how we are coming together as a young team. We made a lineup switch that I think made us play better and we will probably keep doing that.”   

Sophomore Katie Politte led the Lions offensively with ten kills and a team-high eight digs. Junior Nai Montano and Freshman Payton Graves both had seven kills, while freshman Abby Finder dished out 28 assists. 

The Lions out blocked Truman 7-3, but the Bulldogs hit .321 in the match. 

“We still have to just keep working on the things we’ve been working on, knight said.” But we do need to work on taking hitting errors out is the biggest thing and we work on this all the time. But we are still taking swings at balls that we need to be more patient on and wait to we have a good opportunity to take that big swing. 

Southern will be back in play on September 25, when the Lions travel to Edmond, Okla. to take on Central Oklahoma at 7 pm.