BETHANY – After a tough loss last night to Arkansas Tech, Southern Nazarene knew they needed a bounce back victory to hold their ground in the Great American Conference standings. They got that pivotal win in four sets against Harding inside the Sawyer Center.
 
The Crimson Storm (17-8, 7-4 GAC) had a much better match on the offensive side of the net as they finished with a .237 hitting percentage behind 57 kills and just 17 attack errors. They held the Lady Bisons (15-9, 6-5 GAC) to a .182 hitting clip for the match and forced them into 26 attack errors. It was a very exciting match for the folks inside Sawyer as the match saw a total of 19 ties and eight lead changes.
 
The two seniors led the way for Southern Nazarene once again as Bailee Turang recorded 15 kills and 15 digs to go along with five service aces. The Storm tallied eight service aces in the contest while the Lady Bisons tallied five. Setter Kylie Smith was spectacular once again as she finished with 50 assists and 17 digs. It was the fifth time this season that Smith has reached the 50-assist mark and her 10^th double-double of the 2019 season.
 
Turang was one of four Storm attackers to finish with double-digit kills as Bailey Grimes tallied 12 kills to go along with two blocks, Kayla Thomas added 11 kills and two blocks, and Meagan Ellis recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs. Grace Miracle added five kills for the Crimson Storm as well.
 
Much like Friday night, Southern Nazarene came out firing in the first set as they hit .310 and held Harding to a .047 clip. A kill from Turang pushed the SNU lead to 20-14 as they cruised to a 25-17 win to take the early 1-0. Also like Friday night, the Storm struggled in the second set. Harding held SNU to a .189 hitting percentage as the Lady Bisons hit .312 in the frame. HU jumped out to an 18-11 lead and never looked back as they tied the match 1-1 after taking the set 25-16.
 
The third set was by far the most entertaining as the lead changed hands six times and featured 10 ties. SNU hit .220 in the third stanza while Harding hit .238. It was back and forth until the Storm went on a run and capped off a kill from Ellis to take a 22-17 lead. Harding was not going down without a fight as they went on a 7-2 run to tie the match 24-24. A kill from Grimes and an attack error won the stanza for SNU as they escaped the fourth to take a 2-1 set lead.
 
Set four was a lot like the third and featured seven ties and two lead changes as the Crimson Storm tried to close out the Lady Bisons. The SNU defense in the fourth was the vocal point as they held Harding to a .167 hitting percentage and eight attack errors. A kill from Turang pushed the SNU lead to 15-9 before the Lady Bisons closed the gap and cut it to 16-14. Later in the set, the match was pushed to 21-21 and eventually 24-24 before the Storm closed the match out to take the game in four sets.
 
Southern Nazarene will take a short break from GAC play early next week as they travel to Lawton to take on Cameron on Tuesday night.