Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern volleyball team had one of its highest offensive outputs of the season tonight and the Lions took out visiting Pittsburg State, three sets to one. Individual set scores were 25-22, 17-25, 25-22 and 25-23. 

The Lions (6-23, 3-13 MIAA) were led offensively by Mikayla Monk who hit .280 with 12 kills and six blocks. Alicia Pickett and Monica White each had nine kills with Pickett hitting .562, while Pickett and White had eight and seven blocks, respectively. Sydney Dose had eight kills and six blocks, while Bailey Rexford hit .294 and added eight kills. Katie Paine dished out 28 assists, while Whitney Harrison had 20 of her own and Christina Perlinger had a match-high 15 digs. 

PSU (6-22, 4-12 MIAA) had two in double-figure digs with 18 from Maggie Highberger and 14 from Lauren Regier. 

Southern went up 12-8 midway through the first set and forced a Gorilla timeout. PSU, however came back and cut the lead to one (15-14) and forced a Lions timeout. The score was tied at 15, 16 and 17, before Pitt took a 21-18 lead. The Lions, however, behind a kill and a block from Pickett cut the lead to one and forced a PSU timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the score was tied at 21 and at 22, but Southern scored the final three points to take the set. 

Pitt led from start to finish in the second set to tie the match at one. The Gorillas opened up a 10-6 lead early in the third set, but the Lions went on a 3-1 run and cut the lead to just two (11-9) to force a PSU timeout. Pitt led again at 15-12, but the Lions went on a 4-0 run to take a 16-15 lead, capped off by a kill from White to force the second PSU timeout. The score, however, was tied again at 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20, before the Lions took a two-point lead (22-20) and held on to win 25-22 with the set ending on a block from Dose and White. 

The Lions jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in the fourth set, but Pitt raced back to take a 10-7 lead. Southern tied the score at 12 on a kill from Pickett and took a lead on a Perlinger ace to force a timeout from the Gorillas. Pitt tied the score at 13 coming out of the timeout, but a kill from Dose gave the Lions a 14-13 lead and Southern held that lead for the rest of the set as Dose and White closed out the match with a block. 

The Lions had a season-high 16 blocks in the match, doubling up the efforts of the Gorillas. 

Southern will be back in action next weekend as the Lions close out the season at home with matches against Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney.