The Emporia State volleyball team dropped to under .500, losing its conference opener at Missouri Southern in four games.
The Hornets won the first game 30-23, but fell in the final three games 21-30, 24-30, and 28-30 to fall to 4-5 overall.
Mandy Chutskoff had 12 kills for ESU, with Arica Shepard and Leah Griswold adding 11 kills apiece. Freshman Kayla Nolte contributed 56 assists in the four-game match.
Missouri Southern improved its record to 9-1.
The Hornets’ next action comes this weekend at the Washburn University Lady Blues Invitational in Topeka. ESU plays Minnesota State University Mankato and No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth on Friday and South Dakota and No. 12 University of Nebraska at Omaha on Saturday.
Duluth and Omaha both have defeated ESU in matches earlier this season.