Southern Volleyball took a hard hit, losing four straight matches last weekend in the Pittsburg State Regional Challenge, falling 3-1 to St. Mary’s University and Newman University in day one. 

Day two didn’t bring much hope with 3-1 loss to West Texas A&M and then a dropped 3-0 match at the hands of Midwestern State.

“Defense wins games, and we are struggling there,” senior Elin Skei said.

“We had a tough time finishing games all weekend,” freshman outside hitter Casey Ball said.

Ball kept her hand warm with 43 kills throughout three of the four games during the tournament. 

“We are still getting used to each other,” she said.

With almost half of the team consisting of freshmen and sophomores, understanding each other has been the conversation topic throughout the season so far. 

With much of the team competing on this level for the first time, they have struggled to get on a good roll on gameday. 

With the upcoming weekend, the Lions will be hitting two conference games today against Fort Hays State University. 

The Lions will also take on Emporia State University tomorrow. 

Fort Hays currently sits 1-4 in the conference and 12-7 overall, ranked one spot behind Southern in conference rankings

“Fort Hays has a young team as well,” Ball said.

Emporia takes the No. three spot in the conference with a record of 3-1 in the MIAA and 10-6 overall. 

The Lions are currently standing ninth in the MIAA with a record of 1-3 in the conference and 3-13 overall.