Box Score BETHANY, Okla. — It was blackout night inside the Sawyer Center and after a 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 12-25, 24-26) win by Southern Nazarene over Southwestern Oklahoma State, the Bulldogs might want to black out Tuesday night.
 
"The home crowd did a lot for us tonight," said SNU Head Coach Kevin Ingram. "I know they got into their (SWSOU) heads a bit especially in the second and fourth sets. We want to create that home court advantage because when we go on the road, we get a good dose of that ourselves."
 
The Crimson Storm (10-5, 3-0 GAC) on the other hand, couldn't be a hotter team right now, winning nine of their last 11 and are off to the best start in Great American Conference play in school history.
 
"We were fortunate to win that game tonight," said Ingram. "That wasn't one of our best performances. They (SWOSU) did some things to counter what we normally do."
 
Kira Roberts and Jamie Hope gave the spark that SNU needed though as the two seniors led the way in kills. Roberts had a season-high 16 kills and hit .300 on the night while Hope had 10 kills and hit .333. Hope also notched her fourth double-double on the season with 12 digs. Both also added a pair of blocks.
 
Taylor Jacobs and Emilee Crawford also had eight kills. Kaylee Piatt recorded 40 assists and added seven digs and two blocks. Abbey Bell notched a career-high 30 digs while Emily Dick tied her career-high with seven blocks.
 
"Abbey has gotten better every day," said Ingram. "It's really been in the last week and a half that she has become really comfortable where she is at and the reads she is making. She's getting comfortable in what she is looking at. That's a big role for a freshman. She showed up ready to go tonight."
 
SNU as a team had 10 blocks and needed every one of them as the Bulldogs (4-10, 1-2 GAC) out hit and out dug the Storm. Southwestern hit .150 compared to .134 by SNU and had 15 more digs with 94 as SNU had 79.
 
The Storm led from start to finish in the first set, but never led my more than four at any point in the match. SNU rallied in the second set from being down 19-16 when two SWOSU errors and three straight kills gave SNU a 21-19 lead. The Bulldogs cut it to one four more times, before Hope put it away to make it 2-0.
 
Southwestern answered back in the third and never trailed the entire set. The Storm tied the set three different times with the final one coming at 19 before the Bulldogs put it away with a 6-2 run.
 
SNU had to battle once again from behind in the final set as it trailed 13-7 early, but a string of SWOSU errors sparked a 13-4 and SNU took a 20-17 lead. The Bulldogs gained momentum back with a 5-1 run to lead 22-21, but a Crawford kill tied it at 22. SWOSU led 23-22 and had a chance to force a fifth set at 24-23, but a Hope kill tied it at 24. Another error gave SNU match point at 25-24 and Roberts put it away with the final kill to keep SNU's perfect conference record in tact.
 
Southern Nazarene now makes the trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., for a pair of matches at Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State. The Storm play OBU Friday at 7 p.m. and HSU Saturday at 1 p.m.