St. Joseph, Mo. – The Missouri Southern volleyball team fought hard, but dropped its opening-round match of the 2022 MIAA Volleyball Tournament to 10^th-ranked Northwest Missouri today, falling 3-0 to the Bearcats inside the St. Joseph Civic Arena.
 
Southern (13-17) got 15 kills from Fernanda Canedo, while Sophie Mader dished out 28 assists and added nine digs and Abbie Casper had 27 digs. Jaryn Benning had eight kills and ten digs, while Hannah Allick had 14 digs.
 
Northwest Missouri (24-5) was led by Payton Kirchhoefer with 17 kills and 20 digs.
 
The opening set saw both teams trade points until a 5-0 run from the Bearcats gave Northwest an 18-11 lead. Southern got within four (20-16) but that would be as close as the Lions would get.
 
Set two again saw the teams trade points and a kill from Irina Alekseeva gave the Lions an 8-7 lead early on. Northwest led 14-12 midway and the Lions got within a point on multiple occasions before the Bearcats scored seven of the final nine points to take the set.
 
Northwest opened a 9-1 lead in the final set, but the Lions went on a 7-3 run to get within four at 12-8 midway through the set. A 3-1 run for the Lions shortly thereafter got Southern within four (17-13) but the Lions wouldn't be able to make much of a dent.
 
Casper finished the season with 683 digs, the second-most in a single-season at Missouri Southern. Her 5.64 digs per set mark also ranks second-best in a single season. Mader finished the season with 1,105 assists, while Canedo finished the season with 387 kills for a 3.23 kills per set average.
 
Casper, Canedo and Amelia Neels all earned second-team All-MIAA honors, while Mader was an honorable mention pick.