Box Score BETHANY, Okla. — It was a match that lived up to its billing as the top two teams in the Great American Conference went toe-to-to and it was Harding who stayed unbeaten in the conference with a 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 15-25, 25-19, 15-13) win over Southern Nazarene Thursday night.
 
Neither team had dropped a GAC game coming into the night with both records at 7-0. The Crimson Storm (17-7, 7-1 GAC) felt like they had control of the match after taking a 2-1 lead, but Harding rallied back with clutch digs and took advantage of some SNU service errors late.
 
SNU out hit the Bisons (19-7, 8-0 GAC) .168 to .123 and doubled Harding on blocks 16-8. The Bisons though out dug SNU 105-92, 18-8 in the final set, and the Storm had 10 service errors on the night with three coming in the fifth.
 
Kira Roberts and Emilee Crawford combined for 30 kills on the night as both had 15 kills and four blocks each as well. Crawford hit .310 while Roberts hit .293. Taylor Jacobs had eight kills and Jamie Hope had seven. Hope was solid on the defensive side as well as the senior had 14 digs and eight blocks while Jacobs had four blocks. Emily Dick tied her career high for blocks for the second time this season with nine.
 
Kaylee Piatt recorded a double-double with 41 assists and 15 digs and added three blocks as well. Abbey Bell notched her third, 30-dig match of the year as the freshman notched 30 digs while Kaitlyn Belanger had 14.
 
The Crimson Storm out hit the Bisons in the first set as well, as the Storm hit .114 to Harding's .111. SNU also out dug and out blocked HU as well. The Storm held a 15-14 lead midway through the set when Harding went on a 5-1 run capped by a Mollie Arnold kill to lead 19-16. SNU came no close than two the rest of the way as the Bisons took a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
SNU answered back in the second set to tie it at 1-1. The Storm were up 13-11 in the second set when Crawford sparked a 9-4 run to put SNU up 22-15. The Bisons rallied to cut it to 23-20, but a Harding error and a Crawford kill put it away.
 
The third set was all SNU after a Roberts kill sparked a 13-4 run to close out the set. SNU was up 12-11 after Harding scored four straight. The Storm scored the next six points to lead 18-11 and never looked back. SNU hit .270 in the third set and held the Bisons to a .000 clip. Six different players for the Storm recorded a kill in the set.
 
Harding caught SNU off guard early in the fourth as it started on a 7-1 run, but the Storm closed the gap to three at 12-9 and 13-10. The Bisons pushed it back out to 18-11 before SNU tried to chip away at the lead. The Storm came no closer than four the rest of the set as Harding forced the fifth and final set.
 
The final set was as fitting as the rest of the match as the two teams had five ties and four lead changes. SNU led 4-2 yearly before a 6-2 run gave Harding an 8-7 lead. SNU scored the next three points to lead 10-8, but the Bisons answered with three straight of their own to lead 11-10. A Harding error tied it at 11, but the Bisons got two straight kill to lead 13-11. Another Bisons error made it 13-12 before an Alyssa Short kill gave Harding match point at 14-12. Roberts gave SNU life with a kill to make it 14-13, but the Bisons put it away to seal it and stay undefeated in GAC play.

SNU actually out scored Harding in total points 103-100. 
 
The Storm now hit the road for a GAC match Saturday, at Arkansas-Monticello, at 3 p.m.