Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern Volleyball team will open up the 2022 regular season tomorrow as the Lions play host to the Southern Invite inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
 
Southern's first match will be Thursday night at 6 pm as the Lions will play host to Southwestern Oklahoma. Also joining the Lions in the tournament will be Truman, William Jewell, Newman and Northwestern Oklahoma.
 
The Lions will have two matches on Friday, taking on Truman at 11 am and Northwestern Oklahoma at 5 pm. Southern then plays one match on Saturday at 4 pm against William Jewell.
 
The tournament will have live video and live stats for every match and the complete schedule for the tournament can be found by clicking on the story links section above.
 
Southern was picked 10^th in the MIAA preseason coaches poll that was released last week. The team returns four starters, as well as senior Abbie Casper who missed last season due to injury but saw action in the Covid Spring 2021 season and was an All-Conference and All-District pick at Fort Scott Community College before transferring to Southern.
 
Also back for the Lions will be senior setter Sophie Mader, senior middle blocker Kierson Maydew, sophomore middle blocker Amelia Neels and sophomore outside hitter Josey Goldberg. All saw significant action last year in the Green and Gold.
 
Mader and Maydew played in all 30 matches with Mader posting 753 assists and 223 digs, while Maydew had 130 kills and 55 blocks. Goldberg saw action in 21 matches, while Neels saw action in 22. Neels had 24 total blocks, while Goldberg added 16 blocks and 84 kills.
 
In total, the Lions return seven individuals from last year's squad and bring in eight newcomers. Also new to the fold is assistant coach Joshua Moore who comes to the Lions after working as a coach and a teacher in the Carl Junction School District.
 
Southwestern Oklahoma was picked to finish second in the Great American Conference as the Bulldogs went 20-8 a season ago with a 13-3 conference mark. Northwestern Oklahoma was picked to finish ninth in the GAC after going 10-20 and 5-11 in league play.
 
William Jewell and Truman were picked to finish 12^th and 13^th, respectively in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll. The cardinals were 8-23 and 1-17 in GLVC play last year, while the Bulldogs were 6-24 and 2-16 in conference action.
 
Newman was picked 11^th in the MIAA preseason poll. The Jets were 9-17 and 5-15 in MIAA play a season ago.
 
After this tournament, the Lions will head to Denton, Texas where Southern will compete in the Denton Vollyfest hosted by Texas Woman's University. The Lions will play TWU, East Central, Midwestern State and Eastern New Mexico over September 2-3.