Arkadelphia, Ark. -- The Missouri Southern volleyball team dropped its final two matches of the Bettye Wallace Invitational today as the Lions fell 3-0 to Southern Arkansas and in a five-set heartbreaker to West Alabama.

Southern (2-6) started the day losing in three sets to Southern Arkansas (3-4). Individual set scores were 18-25, 17-25, and 13-25. 

The Lions were led by seven kills in the match by Christina Perlinger. Bradyn Wall dished out 20 assists, while Whitney Harrison and Kat Gries had 12 and seven digs each. Alicia Pickett had five kills and hit .333 in the match. 

In Southern's second match, the Lions came-from-behind to force a deciding fifth set, but couldn't take out the Tigers as West Alabama (3-2) took the match. Individual set scores were 15-25, 14-25, 35-33, 25-22 and 5-15. 

UWA eased through the first two sets to go up 2-0, but set three saw both teams trade points throughout the set. There were 16 ties and four lead changes, but a kill from Bailey Rexford and a block from Bridgette Jaeger and Pickett gave the Lions the set. 

Southern took a 14-13 lead midway through the fourth set and never looked back as a kill from Mikayla Monk sent the match to the fifth set. 

In the fifth set, however, the Tigers led from the start. Aside from three tied scores early on, UWA led from start to finish. 

Sydney Dose had a career-high 17 kills to lead the Lions. Jaeger and Rexford added nine and eight, respectively. Harrison had 28 assists, while Wall added 12 and Gries had a career-high 26 digs. Jaeger added 11 digs, while rexford had ten. 

The Lions will be back in action next weekend as they split games at Lyon College and Harding University.