MSSU volleyball to play host to Washburn, Emporia State today, Saturday

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern volleyball team will be back inside Young Gymnasium this weekend as the Lions will play host to No. 5 Washburn and Emporia State on today and Saturday.

Southern (8-8, 1-5 MIAA) will take on Washburn (13-1, 5-1 MIAA) at 6 pm on Friday and Emporia State (5-10, 1-6 MIAA) at 2 pm on Saturday.

Both matches will be shown live on the MIAA Network and fans can access that link in the links above.

The Lions had a pair of tough-luck losses last week as Southern fell in five at Central Oklahoma and in four at Missouri Western. This season, Morgan Nash has posted three triple-doubles and ranks fourth nationally and second in the MIAA in that category. Janelle Brehm is ninth nationally in total attacks and leads the MIAA in that category, while ranking 30th nationally in attacks per set and second in the MIAA. Nash is fourth in the MIAA in aces, while Alicia Pickett ranks third in the league in blocks. Brehm is averaging 3.17 kills per set, while Kylee Kaaihue dishes out 9.38 assists per set. Brehm also is averaging 3.66 digs per set, while Emalee Lowe leads the team at 4.03 digs per set. The Lions have three players at 3.60 digs per set or higher as Brooklynn McCain averaged 6.00 digs per set last week.

As a team, the Lions rank 11th nationally in both total digs and total attacks, leading the MIAA in both categories. Southern ranks 18th nationally in team attacks per set and leads the MIAA in that category, as well as total blocks. The Lions also rank second in the league in assists, while ranking third in digs per set.

Washburn is led offensively by Genna Berg as she averages 3.75 kills per set. Allison Maxwell, Erica Montgomery and Kelsey Gordon, however, all average over 2.60 kills per set. Allison Sadler leads the team with 11.32 assists per set, while Faith Rottinghaus averages 5.18 digs per set.

Emporia State is led by Yuchen Du who is averaging 2.85 kills per set. Emma Dixon dishes out 7.77 assists per set, while Shelby Innes and Rylie Fornelli both average over three digs per set.

After this weekend, the Lions will stay at home with matches on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, playing host to Pittsburg State, Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney.