MSSU volleyball loses opener

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern volleyball team dropped a pair of tough matches today in the opening day of the Angelo State Tournament, falling 3-1 to #19 ranked Angelo in the opener and 3-1 in the nightcap to Arkansas-Monticello.

In the opener, Southern (0-2) dropped the opening set to ASU 17-25, but rebounded to win set two 25-20. The Lions fell 20-25 in set three and 21-25 in the finale.

ASU hit .423 in the opening set, but the Lions had four blocks in the second set to win 25-20 to tie the match at one. Angelo never trailed in the third set, however it was tied at 18, 19 and 20 before ASU pulled away.

In the fourth set, Southern trailed by 12 points, but fought back, going on a 13-2 run to cut the ASU lead to one (19-18), but the Belles pulled away for the match.

Krishna Merriman led the Lions with 14 kills and hit .333, while adding nine kills and five blocks. Abby Finderdished out 35 assists, while Katie Wiele led the team with 17 digs and Katie Politte had 11 digs and five kills.Callie Whetstone and Monica White had eight kills each.

In the second match of the day, the Lions dropped the first two sets of the match by identical 23-25 scores to Arkansas-Monticello, but Southern hit .304 in the third set and won 25-11, before falling 25-16 in the finale.

In the opening set, Southern led 16-10 after an ace from Cheyanne Crandall. The Lions led 19-15, but UAM (1-1) went on a 10-4 run to end the set.

In set two, the two teams traded points early on and Southern led 9-8 after a kill from Politte, but the Cotton Blossoms went on a 4-0 run and led from that point on.

The Lions dominated the third set, using a six-point stretch served by Wiele to surge ahead 9-2 and cruised to the easy win. However, UAM led from start to finish in the finale to take the match.

Politte led the Lions with 14 kills in the match and she added eight digs. Wiele had a match-high 28 digs, while Merriman had nine kills and six digs. Jacy Ermel had 11 digs, while Finder dished out 36 assists and added seven digs.

The Lions are in action today, facing off with Tarleton State and Arkansas-Fort Smith in the final two matches of the tournament.