Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The return of Southwest Volleyball to Summit for the first time since the early 1970's was marked by a pair of contests against tough opponents in Mississippi Gulf Coast and Jackson State CC in the Hampton Inn Invitational Friday.
 
And despite competing hard, the Bears were unfortunately unable to pull out wins in the end falling 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 15-25, 14-16 to Gulf Coast and 21-25, 18-25, 22-25 to Jackson State.
 
"We had missed opportunities. Jackson State is a good team, and I felt like we had opportunities," Southwest head coach Chris Laird said. "We really have to get over this mental hump and I feel like once we do that, we will be a completely different team."
 
In the first contest against the Bulldogs, the Bears (0-7) got off to a very strong start taking the first two sets thanks to a few standout performances in three early aces from Dylan Carroll, and a pair from Haley Eckert which accompanied multiple kills from Reagan Robinson and Berta Soules.
 
The same can be said for the second set where Robinson stood out early with a pair of kills and an ace before Soules scored Southwest's eighth, ninth and tenth points of the frame all on kills.
 
However, in the third set, the Bears lost focus early on but quickly regained the upper hand. Despite this, Southwest had trouble closing out Gulf Coast as the Bulldogs came back late to claim the fourth set.
Early struggles in the fifth were a bit too much for the Bears to overcome despite strong resilient play down the stretch led by Soules who added three additional kills.
 
Against the Green Jays, the Bears were locked in a back-and-forth battle with their opponents from Tennessee before unfortunately losing steam late. Tied at 20 late in the opening set, Southwest lost momentum as Jackson St. rallied late to take the opening frame.
 
The Bears came out swinging in the second set, racing out toa. 5-1 advantage highlighted by a pair of kills from Robinson to go along with one from Eckert and an ace from Hattie Tynes.
 
But Southwest watched its lead slip away before finding itself down 13-10. The Bears continued to fight and find success, but the Green Jays stayed one step ahead throughout the second set.
 
Yet another back-and-forth battle ensued in the third set but in the end, Southwest was unfortunately unable to find the right formula to close out the set as Jackson State went on a run to close out the set and the match.
 
The Bears wrap play at the Hampton Inn Invitational Saturday at 10 a.m. against Bevill State.