Lions celebrate Senior Night with 3-1 victory over Gorillas

Mar. 5—Thursday was a memorable night in more ways than one for the Missouri Southern volleyball team.

Not only did the Lions come up with a 3-1 victory over Pittsburg State in their home opener, but Southern (1-3) celebrated seniors Emalee Lowe, Alyssa Diaz, Janelle Brehm and Cassie Walton before the match inside Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Individual set scores were 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22.

"To see all four of them play like seniors was awesome," Lions coach Kalie Mader said. "I think it goes to show how hard those seniors work, how much effort they put in to get better at perfecting their craft. That's always rewarding to see."

The Lions were led by Brehm, who registered a double-double. The 5-foot-11 outside hitter slammed 19 kills and finished with 11 digs, hitting .292 in the match. Diaz tallied 15 kills and hit .500, while Sophie Mader dished out 53 assists and eight digs.

Kylah Carter amassed 10 kills while Abbie Casper and Brooklynn McCain posted 17 and 11 digs, respectively.

"I thought we had a really good, balanced team effort," Coach Mader said. "We had several players in double-digits kills. That was a big win for us."

After taking the first set, PSU rolled into the second set with a 5-1 advantage. That lead quickly evaporated after MSSU responded with a 6-1 rally to take a 7-6 lead when Lowe picked up the ace.

The Lions erupted from there, stretching their lead to 20-15 following a 13-9 run highlighted by a kill from Kierson Maydew. Sophie Mader came up with the set-clinching kill as Southern knotted the match at one.

The third set was certainly back-and-forth, featuring six ties and three lead changes. But Southern took the momentum when Sophie Mader served an ace to give the Lions a 16-13 advantage.

And the Lions closed the set with a 9-6 burst. Brehm provided the dagger with a soft tip to catch the Gorillas defense off balance. PSU got as close as 23-22 in the fourth set, but a Diaz kill and combination block by Maydew and Sophie Mader sealed the win for MSSU.

"I really liked our mentality in all of the sets," Mader said. "I thought they did a really good job fighting."

The Gorillas (1-4) were paced by Meg Auten with 22 kills, who finished with a .345 hitting clip. The junior outside hitter also racked up 14 digs.

Brianna Richard posted 39 assists while Addison Weybrew captured team honors with 15 digs.

"I think at times we didn't maintain our consistency like I wanted, especially offensively," PSU coach Jen Gomez said. "I think we sometimes got on our heels on defense and that hurt us making adjustments to what Southern was doing. They came out and played hard. I think we didn't make adjustments fast enough."

Gomez admitted there were some struggles late.

"At times, I saw some panic, but what we hope with upperclassmen, they will lead and carry you through," she said. "We saw a little bit of panic, but when we could get Meg the ball, she seemed to handle things pretty well. She really shouldered a load for us tonight."

The Lions return to action with matches against Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday in St. Joseph.

The Gorillas are idle until they play at Central Oklahoma at 6 p.m. Wednesday.