By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
Missouri Southern’s volleyball team dropped a five-set match to Dallas Baptist on Friday afternoon and another to undefeated Midwestern State (Texas) on Saturday morning.
On Saturday afternoon, the Lions saw a 2-0 lead against Drury dissolve into a 2-2 deadlock. But this time, the Lions dominated the final set and posted a 15-9 victory in the final match of the Missouri Southern Invitational.
“We play hard every time we go out, and just little things that we don’t execute accumulate ... and we go into five games,” junior outside hitter Stefanie Williams said. “Most everything this season has been four or five games, so we’re used to it.
“It didn’t enter our mind ... ‘Oh great, here we go again.’ It was ‘Here we go ... this is what we’re used to. Let’s just do it.’ It’s nice to get a match in three (sets), of course, but if it takes four or five games to get it done, as long as we get it done, that’s all that matters.”
“If you let doubt creep in once, then it’s over and you’re going to lose that game,” Lions head coach Chris Willis said. “I tell the kids every time is we have a great opportunity to win a fifth game here. We do it 100 times in the gym, play games to 15. We’re going to win this one. As long as you stay with that attitude, at least you’re going to give yourself a shot.”
The Lions beat Drury 25-23, 25-22 in the first two sets before the Panthers bounced back to win twice by 25-19 margins.
The Lions started quickly in the final set as Ashlee Russell had a block and two kills during a 7-2 spurt at the beginning, and consecutive blocks by Kara Robeson and Amelia Judge and kills by Robeson and Jeanna Feldman widened the margin to 14-5.
“The vibe was there, the team was ready,” Williams said. “Of course we should have done it earlier, but we got it done.”
Feldman, a sophomore outside hitter who was named to the all-tournament team, slammed 16 kills and had 12 digs in the almost two-hour match. Williams had 14 kills and 21 digs, and Brittany Vavao-Huggins had 11 kills, one solo block and six block assists.
Libero Kari Hammerbacher had 17 digs, and Amelia Judge also assisted on six blocks. As a team, the Lions had 15 blocks, eight more than the Panthers (4-4).
“Drury made some mistakes in swinging into our blocks,” Willis said. “We had some blocks come easy to us. Then they started to get a little smarter, and we had to work for our blocks. They didn’t come so easy.
“What our kids should take away from this is you really have to earn, not just every point, but every contact on the floor.”
Midwestern State, 4-0 in the tournament and 8-0 for the season, beat the Lions 25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-10.
Lion leaders included Feldman with 21 kills, Hammerbacher with 21 digs and setter Sarah Joles with 38 assists, two more than she had against Drury.
Central Oklahoma went 3-1 in the tournament, losing a 3-0 decision to the Lions on Friday. The Lions and Dallas Baptist were 2-2, Drury 1-3 and Northwest Missouri State 0-4.
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Southern tops Panthers in fifth set
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