Volleyball | 11/16/2016 9:28:00 AM

GAC Volleyball Championships Page
 
BETHANY, Okla. — For the third straight year, Southern Nazarene enters the Great American Conference Volleyball Championships with a top three seed.
 
The Crimson Storm begin their run towards a GAC Championship Thursday at noon as they take on sixth-seeded Henderson State. SNU reached the finals two years ago and the semifinals last year. The Storm are 2-0 in opening round games and 3-2 all-time in the tournament. SNU is also riding its longest winning streak of the year at five.
 
SNU opens the tournament with a team that already has a win over the Crimson Storm as Henderson scored a 3-1 victory in Arkadelphia. Southern Nazarene though is 4-1 all-time against the Reddies and it is Henderson State's first appearance in the GAC Championships.
 
The Storm and the Reddies get things going with the first match of the tournament and will be followed by second-seeded Ouachita and seventh-seeded Arkansas-Monticello who play at 2:30 p.m. The winners of each match will play each other Friday in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. SNU fell 3-1 to Ouachita in Arkadelphia this year, but picked up a 3-0 sweep over Monticello this year inside the Sawyer Center. That win for Ouachita was the first over the Storm in the series. SNU is 5-1 all-time against the Tigers and that includes a 3-1 win last year in the GAC Championships Quarterfinals. SNU is 6-0 all-time against UAM and that includes a GAC Championships Quarterfinals win in 2014.
 
The Storm are 15-2 all-time against it's side of the bracket, but went 1-2 this year against those same teams.
 
On the other side the bracket, top-seeded Harding and eighth-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma State play at 5 p.m. Thursday while fourth-seeded Arkansas Tech and fifth-seeded Southwestern Oklahoma State round out the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m.
 
Harding swept SNU 3-0 in its only meeting this year in Searcy. It was the only time the Storm were swept this year in GAC play. The Crimson Storm split with Southeastern with a 3-0 sweep in Durant, but slipped up in one of its two home losses, and the only home loss in Sawyer, when they fell 3-2 to the Savage Storm.
 
Southern Nazarene downed Arkansas Tech in five sets in Russellville in its only meeting of the year and beat Southwestern, 3-1, in both meetings this year.
 
SNU is 1-4 all-time against Harding and 17-6 against Southeastern. SNU has never played Harding in the GAC Championships, but does have a 3-0 win over the Savage Storm in the 2014 GAC Championships Semifinals. SNU is 3-3 all-time against Arkansas Tech, including, a 3-2 loss in the GAC Championships Final in 2014. The Crimson Storm are 13-5 all-time against Southwestern, including a 3-0 sweep last year in the GAC Championships Semifinals.
 
The winners of each of those matches in the other side of the bracket will play each other Friday at 6 p.m.
 
The Storm are 4-2 this year against the other side of the bracket and 34-18 all-time against those four teams. SNU holds a 49-20 record against this year's tournament field, but is 5-4 this year against the field this year.
 
The GAC Championships Final is set for Saturday at 2 p.m.