Denton, Texas – The Missouri Southern volleyball team swept the final day of the Denton Volleyfest, defeating Midwestern State in four sets in the opener, then sweeping Eastern New Mexico in the finale.
Southern (5-3) took out Midwestern State (1-6) by taking the final three sets of the match. Individual set scores were 22-25, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-17.
Irina Alekseeva had 13 kills and hit .357, while
Amelia Neels had 12 kills and a .391 attack average.
Jaryn Benning had ten kills and nine digs, while
Sophie Mader dished out 45 assists and
Abbie Casper had 29 digs.
Fernanda Canedo had nine kills and 18 digs.
The Mustangs were led by Sadie Portmann with 11 kills.
In the opening set, the Lions went on a 5-0 run midway through the set to lead 15-13 and force a Mustang timeout. MSU then came back to lead 19-18 and then again 23-20 forcing Lions' timeouts at each point. The Mustangs took the final two points to take the set.
Sets two through four were all Lions. Set two saw three ties and two lead changes, but the Lions utilized a 9-2 run midway through to take control. Set three saw the Lions lead from start to finish, while set four saw the Lions use a 9-3 run midway through to take control and end the match.
In the second match of the day, the Lions took on ENMU (5-3) and controlled the match to sweep the day. Canedo finished with 11 kills and 11 digs, while Mader dished out 26 assists. Neels and Benning had eight kills each with Benning posting a double-double and adding ten digs. Alekseeva had seven kills.
The opening set was back-and-forth as there were 12 ties and ten lead changes. The Lions trailed 22-21 late and called a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Lions scored four of the next five points to take the set.
Set two saw the Lions take a 12-7 lead to force an ENMU timeout and led again 19-14, forcing another timeout for the Greyhounds. Southern scored six of the final seven points to take the set. Set three saw the Lions lead from start to finish to complete the sweep.
Southern will be back in action next weekend as the Lions open up MIAA play with matches at Newman on Friday and Central Oklahoma on Saturday.
