Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern volleyball team got nine kills from Armyni Perales and seven from Irina Alekseeva, but the Lions couldn't stop the hot-hitting fifth-ranked Central Missouri Jennies as Southern fell in three sets tonight. Individual set scores were 17-25, 12-25 and 19-25.

The Lions (3-11, 0-4 MIAA) were led by Perales with nine kills, while Alekseeva had a career-high seven of her own. Sophie Mader had 26 assists, five digs and hit .375 on the match. Grace Quiroz had nine digs, while Brooklynn McCain added eight of her own. Bonnie Hegarty had six kills and hit .308, while adding three blocks. 

Central (12-2, 5-1 MIAA) was led by Audrey Fisher with 10 kills. 

The opening set saw a pair of ties early on, but the Jennies eventually got out to a 15-8 lead and forced a Southern timeout. The second set saw Central get out to a 7-2 lead before the Lions got within three (8-5), but the Jennies rallied and controlled the rest of the set. 

Set three saw six tied scores and three lead changes. The Lions led 10-5 to start the set after a kill from Alekseeva and the lead was 14-9 after a block by Hegarty and Perales. Three-straight points for the Jennies, forced a Lions' timeout and Central came out of the timeout pushed the run to 9-0, eventually leading 21-15 and forcing another timeout by the Lions. Southern got four points late, the last coming on a kill from Hegarty, but couldn't get any closer. 

The Lions will have three matches this week, playing a re-scheduled match at Missouri Western on Tuesday night at six, before traveling to Washburn and Emporia State next weekend.