Box Score ADA, Okla. — It wasn't easy, but getting 22 wins in a season rarely is. Southern Nazarene closed out the regular season with a 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-27, 15-11) win over East Central in the seventh five-set match of the year for SNU.
 
It was the fourth five-set win of the year for the Crimson Storm (22-9, 12-2) and the second five-set win over the Tigers (11-17, 8-6 GAC) this year.
 
Four different players had double-figure kills for SNU as Jamie Hope led the way with her first career triple-double. The senior recorded 12 kills, 17 digs and a career-high 11 blocks. She also hit. Taylor Jacobs and Emilee Crawford each had 11 kills while Emily Dick had 10 kills. Jacobs posted a double-double with 11 digs and four blocks while Crawford had five digs and four blocks. Dick also had a career-high five aces to go with seven blocks. The Storm nearly had five players with at least 10 kills as Kira Roberts had nine along with four digs and six blocks.
 
Kaylee Piatt had 44 assists, seven digs, seven kills and four blocks while hitting .600. Abbey Bell nearly notched her third 30-dig match of the season, falling just two digs shy with 28. Kaitlyn Belanger also had a career-high 17 digs.
 
The Storm were just one block shy of a season-high with 19 and had nine aces as a team. SNU hit .212 and held ECU to a .137 clip. Southern Nazarene also out dug ECU 92-86.
 
SNU started behind after giving up a 22-21 lead in the first set as ECU took it with a 4-1 run and held a 1-0 lead in the match. The Storm answered back in the second set as they nearly pulled the same stunt. SNU trailed 23-22 when a service error tied it. Roberts gave the Storm set point at 24-23 with a kill and another Tiger error gave the set to SNU to tie it at 1-1.
 
The Crimson Storm flipped a switch in the third set as they hit .500 (14-1-26) and got at least two kills out of six different players and three teams blocks. SNU didn't trail once as it raced out to a 12-3 lead and never looked back.
 
The Tigers though responded in the fourth holding off a late charge by SNU. ECU led 21-17 when Dick sparked a 6-2 run to tie it at 23. The Tigers took set point at 24-23, but an error and a Jacobs kill gave match point to SNU at 25-24. East Central took a deep sigh though, scoring three straight points to force the final set.
 
SNU looked to be cruising as it scored seven straight points in the final set to lead 8-1, and was up 14-7 when ECU scored four straight. That was all the Tigers had left though as an error gave SNU the match to wrap up the regular season.
 
Southern Nazarene will now wait and see when the NCCAA Central Region Tournament will start as the Sawyer Center will play host. The dates depend on whether Colorado Christian wins Tuesday night in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. If CCU wins Tuesday, the tournament will be played Nov. 22-23, but a CCU loss will extend the tournament to Nov. 21-23.