HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Southern Nazarene dug anything and everything Thursday afternoon in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-14) win over Arkansas-Monticello in the semifinals of the Great American Conference Volleyball Championship.
 
Playing the in program's first GAC postseason event, the Crimson Storm (21-9) posted a three-set, season-high for digs with 78. Five players had double figure digs and two players had double-doubles. Abbey Bell led the way with 20 digs on the night while Elyse Berlin and Dani Chase each had 12 digs. Chase also had three aces. Taylor Jacobs had 13 digs to go with 11 kills for her ninth double-double of the season. Kaylee Piatt raked in 11 digs and 40 assists for her team-high 15^th double-double of the season. Jacobs and Piatt each had four blocks as well.
 
"Digging was the key to that match," said SNU Head Coach Kevin Ingram. "We had to scrappy on defense and disciplined in our base positions because they are not a powerhouse hitting team. It's more rolls and pushes and if you can pick all that up it in turns allows you to do what you want to do offensively. We had a lot of girls digging in and playing well defensively today."
 
Emilee Crawford had a team-high 12 kills and hit .276 on the day. She also added three blocks as SNU had seven as a team. Emily Dick also had three blocks to go with seven kills.
 
"There was a good mismatch with Emilee and she did a good job of taking advantage of that," said Ingram. "She was just playing at a high level."
 
The Storm as a team hit .227 while holding the Cotton Blossoms (15-15) to just a .008 clip.
 
SNU had 10 ties with the Cotton Blossoms in the first set and were down 17-13 before a UAM error sparked a 7-0 run by the Storm to give SNU a 20-17 lead. Monticello closed the gap to one on two different occasions, but the Storm pulled away to take the first set.
 
Once the nerves settled for SNU, it cruised through the final two sets. SNU hit .333 in the second set and forced nine UAM errors in the final set to pick up the win.
 
"We came out a little tight and a little nervous to begin with and had to battle back and forth," said Ingram. "Once we settled in and got to our game plan that's when we took over. Not only did we pass and play defense well, but we served well. We put the ball in good locations. Overall, it was a great start and that gives us good momentum heading into tomorrow.