Missouri Southern volleyball coach Chris Willis takes a little more time to fill out his lineup card.

“We have some options out there,” he said.

The Lions open their season this weekend in a tournament in Quincy, Ill., with four matches in just over a 24-hour period. Today the Lions face Clarion at noon and Quincy at 7 p.m., and Saturday’s slate pits the Lions against Alderson-Broaddus at 10 a.m. and St. Joseph (Ind.) at noon.

In addition to more depth, the Lions expect to show stronger play at the net.

“I think this is probably the most physical team that I’ve ever had,” said Willis, who’s assisted by Ryan Meek and Robert Creekmore. “We have at least two girls (5-foot-10 junior Rachel Olinyk and 6-0 senior Amelia Judge) who can jump and touch over 10 feet. I’ve never had one before in this program. That’s kind of a gold standard, and to have two or three go 10 feet, that’s pretty athletic.

“Obviously that allows us to block at a very high level. Blocking will be the foundation of our defense, turn into a lot of instant points for us. If you block well, you can change the other team’s offense to where they start doing things they don’t want to do and hitting shots they don’t want to hit.

“Amber Heiskell (5-11 sophomore from Neosho), when she gets to hitting, her entire head is above the net. And Kelsey Erwin (5-11 junior from Webb City) is competitive and will find a way to get on the court. I’d be happy with any combination of those four players on the floor.”

The Lions are experienced at outside hitter with sophomore Renee Rheinecker, an all-conference selection last season, and seniors Ashlee Russell, Jeanna Feldmann and Cassie Prewitt. Feldmann has been slowed by injury during the preseason and will likely miss two weeks.

Russell also will see action at the opposite position (formerly called right-side hitter), and senior Brittany Vavao-Huggins has been moved to that position.

Junior Elin Skei and sophomore Daphne Merrick give the Lions two veteran setters. Skei started last season, and Merrick took over after Skei was injured.

“They are 1 and 1A right now,” Willis said. “Elin is our starter going into this weekend. She steadies our team, makes the engine run smooth.

“When Daphne comes on the court, we call her the Ferrari. When she’s out there, you’d better watch because she’ll do something spectacular and you don’t want to miss it. Her challenge is to become consistent ... make the everyday set, be able to do the mundane. She can handle the spectacular.”

Junior Shakila Balkhi is the Libero.

“She’s the glue player for the team,” Willis said, “the one who holds us together because she does all the little things and fills in the nooks and crannies that may be forgotten about. She can dig heat with anybody, the hardest hitters in the conference, but also make the ordinary passes look ordinary. With a high-octane offense, we need somebody to get the setter the ball, and I think she will do a fantastic job at it.”

The Lions have two freshmen defensive specialists in Katie Collins and Kristin Hylton.

“Katie is a little more steady, but Kristin is one of the most athletic kids on the team,” Willis said.

Completing the roster are freshmen Haley Martin at outside hitter and Sydney Marsellis at setter/opposite.

The key to the Lions’ success is their ability to pass the ball.

“We want to make sure we have enough ball control on the floor,” Willis said. “We have a high-octane offense, but if you can’t get it passed to the setter, you cannot do anything on the floor. No matter how good your hitters are, you will get beat every time if you don’t have ball control.”

The Lions have another tournament next weekend at St. Edward’s (Texas) and open MIAA play at Nebraska-Omaha on Sept. 15 before making their home debut Sept. 18 against Drury.

“We had six MIAA teams in the regional last year and five in the preseason top 25 this year,” Willis said. “I would suspect that someone else will crawl in there.

“Obviously we hope it’s Missouri Southern, but that is yet to be determined. We have to go prove ourselves.

“The preseason has gone well. The best part is all the kids reported in great shape. The first day we had several kids set PRs in vertical jump and sprint tests. That’s an indicator to me they played a lot and trained over the summer. We didn’t spend one day conditioning during the preseason because they were already in good shape. For us, it’s a matter of fitting the pieces together.”