The Northwest Missouri State University women’s volleyball team picked up a thrilling 3-2 win over the Missouri Southern Lions (4-18, 2-8 MIAA) Saturday night at Bearcat Arena.

Northwest (10-12, 4-5 MIAA) battled all night and momentum continued to shift to both sides before the Bearcats pulled out the five set victory.

The Bearcats rolled through the first set before the Lions took sets two and three.  Northwest closed out the match winning, 25-19, 19-25, 26-28, 25-18, and 15-12.

The Bearcats rolled in the fourth set after an unforced Missouri Southern error swung the momentum in Northwest’s favor.

Northwest was behind early in the fifth set but evened the score at 6-6 with an Alex Hanna kill.  The Lions would remain within a point or two until Laira Akin hammered down the match point.

Senior Laira Akin recorded a season-high 58 assists and 15 digs to record her 12th double-double of the season.

Abby Graves continued to knock down kills with a team high 22, a season high, and added 15 digs to record her 5th double-double of the season.

Tori Beckman led the defense recording 25 digs.

— NWMSU Sports Information —