HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — The set streak continues for Southern Nazarene on into the Great American Conference Championship game as SNU won its ninth straight set and third straight match with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-20) win over Southeastern Oklahoma State in the semifinals.
 
The Crimson Storm (22-9) reach their first GAC Championship match in their first season of GAC postseason eligibility. The wealth was spread across the board for SNU as six players recorded kills, four had double-figure digs and five players had at least five three blocks.

"Our defense is what is winning us these games right now," said SNU Head Coach Kevin Ingram. "We just have to continue to put the defensive effort out there and let our offense come out of our defense. It is our driving force what what we need to do. We have a one more tough one ahead of us and we need to excute and take care of our side of the ball."
 
Emilee Crawford had nine kills and three blocks while Kaylee Piatt was second on the team in kills with eight. She also added 26 assists, seven digs and four blocks. Taylor Jacobs and Emily Dick each had six kills while Jacobs had 11 digs and eight blocks and Dick had five blocks.
 
Abbey Bell posted 24 digs while Elyse Berlin had 13 digs and Dani Chase had 11. Nicole Greenway also had three blocks.
 
The Storm as a team had 14 blocks compared to five by Southeastern and out dug the Savage Strom 76-61.
 
There were six ties in the first set with the last one coming at 7-7 before the Crimson Storm unloaded with an 18-3 run to close out the set. Southeastern had nine errors in the first set while SNU hit .351. Southern Nazarene jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the second set and were up 18-7 when Southeastern used a 15-5 run to cut it to 23-22. A Savage Storm error followed by an Emily Dick kill though gave the second set to SNU. The Crimson Storm never trailed in the third set and withstood a late run by Southeastern with a 6-2 run to close out the match.

"We had to be consistent in handling Southeastern's runs and taking care of balls," said Ingram. "The run in the second set got lengthy and ball control caused that. Once we turned that around we were able to execute offensively."