SHAWNEE, Okla. — For the second straight year, Southern Nazarene ended the regular season with a win over Oklahoma Baptist with a 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 16-25, 27-25, 15-12) victory.
 
Last year the Crimson Storm (14-17, 9-7 GAC) downed the Bison (17-14, 11-5 GAC) for the first time since OBU reinstated its program in 2008. This year's season-ending win was the first in Shawnee in the same stretch.
 
The victory over Oklahoma Baptist, and an Ouachita Baptist loss, pushed Southern Nazarene all the way up to the fifth seed at the Great American Conference Championships set to start Thursday. SNU will take on Northwestern Oklahoma State at 7:30 p.m.
 
Elyse Berlin had a career-high 32 digs in her last regular season game of her career. Meagan Ellis had two career-highs with 18 kills and added 23 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. She also had two blocks. Kylie Smith also recorded a double-double with 53 assists and 13 digs. It was her 18^th of the season which is a team high. Makenna Hunter posted a season-high 12 kills and added a pair of blocks. Bailee Turang recorded her 14^th double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs. Hannah Davis had 15 digs and eight kills while Kayla Thomas had eight kills and four digs.
 
Neither team led by more than two early in the first set until OBU broke a 9-9 tie with four straight to lead 13-9. The Bison eventually increased the run 12-3 to lead 21-12 and cruised to a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
After giving up the first three points of the second set, the Storm woke up and went on a 12-4 run to lead 12-7. The Bison came no closer than two the rest of the set as SNU knotted the match at 1-1. Oklahoma Baptist came out hot in the third set as it opened with a 13-4 lead and didn't look back to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Neither team led by more than three in the third set and OBU was up 12-9 when Meagan Ellis sparked a 6-3 run that was capped by two Kayla Thomas kills to force a timeout and gave SNU a 16-15 lead. The Bison tied it at 16 and that was the first of 20 straight ties up to 25-25. SNU held off two straight match points in that stretch before getting a Turang ace and an OBU error to take the set at 27-25 and force a fifth and deciding set.
 
SNU broke a 4-4 tie with three straight that included kills from Ellis and Davis to lead 7-4. SNU led 8-5 when OBU went on a 3-1 run to cut it to 9-8 and forced a Storm timeout. Southern Nazarene though answered with a 3-1 run of their own to lead 13-9 and held off OBU for the win.