The weekend looks a little brighter for the Missouri Southern volleyball Lions.

Southern notched its first two conference wins this season with an upset of the No. 20 Truman State University Bulldogs and a comeback win over Missouri Western.

The wins improve Southern’s record to 7-6 overall, and 2-2 in the MIAA.

Today the Lions travel to Pittsburg to play in the Pitt State Classic. The Lions will open play with Newman University at noon today, and follow it up against Abilene Christian tonight at 6 p.m.

The Lions resume play tomorrow with a 9 a.m. match with Dallas Baptist, and a 2 p.m match against Texas A&M Commerce to finish up the tournament.

“These matches are important for regional rankings,” said Lions’ Head Coach Chris Willis. “They are vital to our goal of the national tournament.

“We have the team to do it, but we have to continue to work hard.”

Willis is excited that all the hard work is finally paying off.

“Truman was a great victory for us,” Willis said. “Hopefully [beating a top 25 team] will get the team over some mental hurdles, and a win like this says we can beat anybody.”

Jeanna Feldmann and Renee Rheinecker both had big games for the Lions. The two had 20 kills apiece against Truman, and Feldmann another 20 against Missouri Western.

“Jeanna is really scoring a lot of points for us,” Willis said. “Feldmann and Rheinecker have both been outstanding as outside hitters, and that is something we were missing a bit last year.”

Willis said he knows the team will need to continue to play well if it has hopes of postseason play.

“Beating Truman can’t be the highlight of the season,” said Willis. “We need to look at the bigger picture, work for a spot in that national tournament.”