Volleyball team wins last game
Kristen Smith

Staff Writer

The women's volleyball season came to an end on Nov. 12 with a victory over Southwest Baptist University.

The Lady Lions competed in their last game at Bolivar and finished in a three-game match. Scores for the games were 30-28, 30-21 and 30-21.

"It was a fairly easy win, a little close at times," said Kym Mutert, junior. "I think they have a lot more powerful hitters than we do."

Junior Jessi Puszewski said it was barely an easy win over SBU, but the season has been challenging overall.

Senior Shannon Schultz said the team played well against the Lady Bearcats. Schultz has been out with a knee injury since Southern s last game against Central Missouri State University on Oct. 19. She was not able to finish the remaining few games of her last season.

"Whenever I got hurt, I knew I was done," Schultz said. "Last night, I didn't get to play, and I just started bawling."

Schultz will not graduate until May 2004, but has "used up" her four years of eligibility playing Southern volleyball.

"It's been wonderful, I wouldn't have gone anywhere else," Schultz said. "We had good seasons and bad seasons, but I made awesome friends. My coach was wonderful; it was great."

Amy Little also finished off her college volleyball career in the game. Schultz said it was Little's best game yet. Mutert set the ball up for Little, giving her the winning hit for the match. Schultz said it was an exciting way for Little to end her career.

"I'm going to miss playing with Amy," Mutert said.

The team finished the season at 12-16.

"I think we learned a lot of things about teamwork this season,  Puszewski said.  It takes an entire team and not just a few individuals. 

Mutert said she met most all of the individual goals she set for herself this season.

"As far as team goals, there have been some ups and down," Mutert said. "It was a good year but also frustrating. When we played well, we played really well, but then a game later, it wouldn't even look like the same team. It was very frustrating."

Schultz said the team has become close friends on and off the court.

"We are a really good group of friends and get along great," Schultz said. "We hang out on the weekends and go home with each other. It s been really great because we love the people that we play with, and it makes it so much easier to play when you like and respect everyone on the team."

The team was to meet with Debbie Traywick, head coach, on Nov. 14 to talk about how the team felt about the season. Players were also to discuss the individual commitments some of the women need to make for next year.