AUSTIN, Texas — Southern Nazarene dropped down south to open its 2015 season at the Hilltopper Classic and split its first two matches with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 32-30) loss to Franklin Pierce before sweeping host St. Edward's (27-25, 25-19, 25-17).
 
The Storm (1-1) were plagued by 13 service errors and in the first match, but did get double-doubles from McKenna Qualls and Elyse Berlin. Qualls ripped 19 kills and had 18 digs in her debut while Berlin dished out a career-high 44 assists and had 16 digs. Qualls hit .341 on the day and added two aces as well. Berlin also added seven kills.
 
SNU had nine aces as a team had nine aces as four different players had two. The Storm also had seven blocks. McKayla Benner led the way with a career-high five blocks and was just two digs shy of a double-double with 10 kills and eight digs. Kaitlyn Vought had four blocks and seven kills in her first match with SNU.
 
Southern Nazarene hit just .160 (56-27-181), but held Franklin Pierce to just a .156 (51-24-173) clip. The Storm used a 4-0 run to take the first set and were up late in the second, but the Ravens used a 5-2 run to tie it at 1-1. FPU controlled the majority of the third set to take a 2-1 lead and that set up a tightly contested fourth set. There were 16 ties and seven lead changes in the fourth set. SNU led by as much as six early and were up 13-7, before the Ravens used an 8-2 run to tie it at 15. The Storm led 23-21, but gave up three straight before staving off a match point with two straight to take a 25-24 lead and a set point of their own. SNU had five straight set points with the final coming at 30-29 before FPU scored three straight to put it away.
 
SNU spread the wealth in the second match with six different players notching at least three kills. Qualls again led the way with nine while Courtney Bowie had eight. Bowie hit .318 and added three blocks as well. Benner and Qualls each had four blocks while Qualls also had eight digs.
 
Berlin posted her second straight double-double with 21 assists and 11 digs while Abbey Bell had 19 digs. Bell also tied her career-high with three aces and had seven assists. Makenna Hunter also had three blocks. SNU as a team had seven blocks.