Surprise: Southern host spring volleyball tournament

Toss the volleys, increase the standard defensive position and spike your heart out, it’s time for another round of Jaguar volleyball. In full spirit, Jaguars prove that they never give up and since the season has been over, they have been striving for success.
After the fall semester in which Southern didn’t capture the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship in the fall against Alabama State, they came back in Seymour Gym on March 21, 2015 to revive the spirit that they have even though the event wasn’t publicized due to other athletic events circling around them.
In the heat of the spring, Southern showed that at home and not in the weather that they can still have a winning mindset even against five non-conference teams.
Southern battled Southeastern University, University-Louisiana Lafayette, Northwestern and University of Southern Mississippi in an all days tourney from 9am to approximately 3:30pm.
Southern head coach, Venessa Jacobs was elated to have the tournament at home and give these other teams a run for their money but also a key for them to have fun.
“We wanted to have a spring tournament and wanted to play all day,” said Jacobs.
Even though Southern has traveled to other schools to play, this is their first time hosting the inaugural spring tournament at home.
“This is our first time hosting the tournament and we wanted others schools to come out here at home and for four other teams to join us was just amazing overall,” commented Jacobs.
No books were kept during the tourney but Southern came to the challenge and produced their hardest work ethic out to the court.
Back in the gym that has been home, senior middle-blocker/outside hitter Marisol Macias fortunately didn’t make this her last game as she came to face this team, battling head on and headstrong.
“Since Marisol is still on the roster she can still play and I’m very excited that she could be inside the tournament. She also was a stand in for Jasmine Middleton who came back from a knee surgery, so we wanted to get her comfortable playing,” said Jacobs.
Former coach, Nathaniel Denu sits in the stands, aspired and admired to see Southern rise to such an occasion and play the sport that he invested his time in. This tourney not only proved that Southern can contend but that Southern can.
Southern played four games straight but Jacobs saw a spark within the team when she finished with, “Four matches in a row was a bit exhausting but at the end of the day, I saw a lot of really good things to reach and to fine tune, so all in all it was just a really good day.”
And with the cheer of the team, it was a fine day indeed.
Now since they have shown to be contenders, now Southern is depending on the future and said future is bright due to seven players already signed up for Southern but only one player committed to the team.
Signing day will occur in mid-April and the wait is on for the young team to transverse back to tournament action.