BETHANY, Okla. —Southern Nazarene looked to get off on the right foot in the Great American Conference opening match, but fell 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 25-27, 25-19) to Southwestern Oklahoma State inside the Sawyer Center on Tuesday night.
 
Bailee Turang and Kayla Thomas combined for 34 of the 61 kills on the night for the Crimson Storm (6-8, 0-1 GAC) as Turang tallied 20 and Thomas finished with 14. Meagan Ellis finished with 12 kills to go along with 21 digs and three blocks. The Bulldogs (9-2, 2-0 GAC) recorded 55 kills in the match and made things difficult for SNU with 13 service aces, which marks the most the Storm have allowed in a match this season.
 
 Kylie Smith hit the 50+ mark on assists for the second time this season, finishing with 50 to go along with five kills, seven digs, and one block. Logan Matthews added nine digs and two aces while Makenna Hunter had six kills and three blocks.
 
SWOSU took a 10-9 lead early in the first set and then went on a 6-1 run to push it to 16-10. The Storm battled back to go on a 9-5 run to make it 21-19 before the Bulldogs closed it out.
 
The Crimson Storm came out on a 10-3 run to open the second set and later pushed it to a 22-16 lead. SWOSU though, proceeded to score nine straight to take a 2-0 lead. SNU used an 11-3 run to start the third set to cut it to 2-1, before the Bulldogs closed the Storm out in the fourth set.