EDMOND, Okla. — Southern Nazarene dropped both of its first two matches of the GAC/MIAA Regional Crossover as it lost 3-1 (26-24, 25-22, 18-25, 25-17) to Pittsburg State and 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-13) to No. 18 Central Oklahoma
 
Bailee Turang and Meagan Ellis combined for 29 of SNU's 46 kills in the opener. Turang had 16 to go with 13 digs, three blocks and two aces while Ellis had 13 kills with eight digs. The Crimson Storm out hit the Gorillas, had less hitting errors, doubled Pitt State's blocks and had one less dig, and one less serving error. The difference came in serves as PSU had 12 aces, the most allowed by SNU this year.
 
Kylie Smith added 39 assists, four kills and two blocks while Logan Matthews had 18 digs and two aces. Makayla Shonamon also had 10 digs.
 
The two tied 22 times in the match, with 13 in the first set alone. Neither team led by more than three in the first set as both had 3-point leads during the first. The Gorillas had set point at 24-22 before Makenna Hunter ripped back-to-back kills to tied it at 24. Pitt State though scored the final two to lead 1-0.
 
PSU led by as much as five in the first set and were up 13-18 when SNU started to chip away at the lead. SNU trailed 20-17 before it got three straight to tie the set at 20. After two more ties knotted it at 22-22, the Gorillas scored three straight to take a 2-0 lead.
 
The Crimson Storm used an early 11-0 run in the third set and ran away with it to cut it to 2-1 in the match, but Pitt State put it away in the fourth set as it led from start to finish.
 
Against UCO, SNU was held to a -.074 hitting percentage (18-25-95) while the Bronchos (9-2) hit .349. Hunter led the way with seven kills while Smith had 18 assists. Matthews posted a team-high eight digs while Addi Floyd had four blocks.
 
Central Oklahoma had eight blocks and seven aces.