Box Score
BETHANY, Okla. — It's been five long years since Southern Nazarene has taken down the perennial power of the Sooner Athletic Conference. Not since SNU won the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament in 2006 had the Crimson Storm defeated Lubbock Christian; that is until Saturday.
The Crimson Storm (21-4, 6-1) have now won eight straight with the 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-15, 25-22) win over the Lady Chaps (16-4, 5-2 SAC). SNU is now in second place all by themselves in the SAC and just a game back of Oklahoma Baptist.
Taylor Jacobs and
Jamie Hope controlled the net all afternoon for Southern Nazarene as the two sophomores combined for 30 kills and five blocks. Jacobs ripped 17 kills and hit .429 (17-2-35) to go with her four digs. Hope had all five blocks and notched a season-high 13 kills while hitting .440 (13-2-25).
Natalia Oliveira and
Ellen Martin each notched double-doubles as Oliveira had 13 kills and 10 digs while Martin had just the opposite at 13 digs and 10 kills. Martin also served a trio of aces and had a pair of blocks.
Kaylee Piatt ran the show as she tied a season-high for assists in a four-set match with 50. She also recorded 13 digs as well.
KateLyn Biddy added 17 digs as the senior helped knock off Lubbock for the first time in her four years at SNU.
The Storm hit .314 (61-13-153) and held the Lady Chaps to just a .255 (60-20-157) clip.
Southern Nazarene got out to a 12-7 lead in the first set and held on to that five-point lead at 17-12. Lubbock Christian then answered with a 10-5 run to tie it at 22-22, but the Storm never gave up the lead. A Hope kill and two LCU errors gave the set to SNU.
The Storm hit just .150 in the second set as Lubbock used an 8-3 run to lead 11-8 early and never trailed again to tie the match at 1-1. SNU was spot-on in the third set, hitting .429 (17-2-35) and raced out to an 8-3 lead. LCU cut it to four at 9-5 and were down 12-7 before a Martin kill sparked a 7-0 run by the Storm to put the score at 19-7. SNU cruised from there to lead 2-1.
SNU hit over .300 for the second straight set with a .386 (18-1-44) clip in the fourth. SNU trailed early at 5-3, but quickly took an 11-8 lead with an 8-3 run that was capped by four straight kills with two each coming from Hope and Oliveira. SNU then had to battle through three more ties with the final one coming at 18-18 before an Oliveira kill and an LCU error made it 20-18 and forced a Lady Chaps timeout. LCU cut it to 20-19, but SNU scored three straight to make it 23-19. Lubbock bounced back with two straight before Martin gave the Storm match point at 24-19 with a kill. After an LCU point, Jacobs put it away with the final kill as Broadhurst Gymnasium sounded like it used to as the Storm fans erupted and SNU stormed the court.
The Storm now get set to host Oklahoma City, Tuesday, for a 7 p.m. contest as both teams will be sporting the pink as the two teams will be playing in their annual dig pink game.
