Box Score BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene secured at least a tie for second place in the Great American Conference Friday afternoon as SNU finally returned back home in a 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 27-25, 25-11) win over Southern Arkansas.
 
The Crimson Storm (20-9, 10-2 GAC) notched their fourth 20-win season in the last five seasons and SNU Head Coach Kevin Ingram's ninth in 13 seasons at the helm.
 
Taylor Jacobs and Kira Roberts combined for 24 kills on the day as Jacobs had 13 kills while Roberts had 11. Jacobs also had seven digs and three blocks. Jamie Hope and Emilee Crawford each had nine kills while Hope added 13 digs and two blocks. Kaylee Piatt notched 39 assists and 14 digs for her 11^th double-double of the season. She also had two blocks. Emily Dick also had four blocks as well. Abbey Bell had a team-high 16 digs while Kaitlyn Belanger had nine.
 
The Storm as a team hit .224 (48-15-147) with seven blocks while holding SAU to just a .159 clip.
 
"We worked a lot on not just our touches being touches, but good touches," said Ingram. "It's all about reading and putting yourself in the right position. All those things are things that we're constantly working on. Just also knowing scouting wise what different people are doing helps a lot."
 
The Crimson Storm didn't have much trouble in the opening set as they hit .212 and got four kills out of Roberts and had five blocks in the set.  The Storm opened the set on a 12-6 run and kept SAU at bay until using a 6-1 run to close set on its biggest lead of the set at 25-15.
 
Southern Arkansas bounced back in the second with a .342 clip (17-4-38) and SNU had just two blocks in the second set.  The two teams tied nine times and SNU held the lead for a majority of the set.  SNU had its biggest lead of three at 17-14 before the Muleriders went on an 8-2 run to lead 22-19 and held the Storm off to tie it at 1-1.
 
SNU had to rally late in the third set after a scare from Southern Arkansas that gave SAU set point. The Storm actually led by as much as four in the set at 16-12, but the Muleriders worked their way back into the set. SAU tied it eventually at 19-19 had three more ties before SNU took set point at 24-23 on an Crawford kill. SAU though scored two straight to take set point at 25-24. The Storm got a kill from Jamie Hope to tie it at 25 and a Jacobs kill gave SNU set point again at 26-25. Piatt then got a setter dump to put the set away and the Storm on top at 2-1.
 
"We've been in that situation several times this year so we're not uncomfortable with it," said Ingram. "We just know it's about the next ball. Just take care of that ball in the moment and execute what our game plan is. We finally started doing that again in the fourth set and we executed like we should have been."
 
It was all SNU from the opening serve in the final set as SNU went on a 9-2 run to open the set and cruised from there.
 
The Crimson Storm now prepare for the final home match of the season, Tuesday, as it welcomes Northwestern Oklahoma State for a 7 p.m. GAC game.