MAGNOLIA, Ark. — The sixth straight win in Great American Conference play may not have been easy for Southern Nazarene, but a five-set win, and any win on the road for that fact, is one SNU will take.
 
The Crimson Storm (11-12, 7-2 GAC) won its second five-set match of the year with a 3-2 (20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 15-13) victory at Southern Arkansas.
 
McKayla Benner led the way for SNU with a career-high 21 kills. The sophomore also hit .311 and had four blocks. McKenna Qualls added 14 kills, three blocks, four aces and six digs while Courtney Bowie had 13 kills while hitting .370. Bowie also had three blocks. Elyse Berlin had a career-high 53 assists as she also added 13 digs, two blocks and six kills.
 
Lexie Matthews added three aces, three blocks and 16 digs. Abbey Bell had 25 digs on the night while Hannah Davis had 19. Kaitlyn Vought chipped in with 13 digs to go with three blocks and seven kills.
 
The Muleriders (11-12, 3-6 GAC) controlled the first set from start to finish to take the 1-0 lead, but the Storm answered in the second set as Benner had six of her kills in that set alone. SNU took an early 5-4 lead in the set and never looked back to tie it at 1-1.
 
The Storm held an early 10-5 lead in the third set, but SAU answered with a 6-1 run to tie it at 11. That was one of 11 ties in the set as neither team led by more than four the rest of the set. The Muleriders had set-point at 24-20, but SNU scored three straight before an error gave SAU a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
SNU rallied though in the fourth by hitting .378 (19-5-37) and held off multiple runs in the set by SAU to force the fifth set. Southern Arkansas held a 4-2 lead early in the fifth , but the Storm scored four straight to lead 6-4 and never gave up the lead again.