ADA, Okla. – Southern Nazarene's volleyball team made short work of East Central on Thursday night as they completed the 3-0 sweep inside the Kerr Activities Center.
 
Amidst the solid all-around performance from the Crimson Storm (19-8, 8-4 GAC), Kylie Smith reached yet another milestone in her illustrious career with SNU. In her 39-assist performance against the Tigers (2-25, 1-11 GAC) on Thursday night, the senior moved into second place all-time in school history for career assists. Smith now has 3,687 assists as she passed Heather Overturf (2005-07) and is now just 132 assists away from breaking the all-time school record.
 
On the offensive side of the net, SNU was simply unstoppable as Bailee Turang led the charge with an 18 kill, 11 dig performance to go along with a .375 hitting percentage. Kayla Thomas had another fantastic match as the junior finished with 12 kills on a sizzling .647 hitting clip. Meagan Ellis added seven kills and a team-high three service aces while Rachel Tichenor came off the bench to add four kills for the Storm.
 
The Crimson Storm recorded their highest hitting percentage of the 2019 season against East Central as they hit .381 and had eight team aces. The Tigers never reached 20 points in any set as the SNU defense held them to a .139 clip for the match. Both teams recorded three blocks as the Storm racked up 48 kills in the dominant victory.
 
It was evident from the start of the match that it would be all Southern Nazarene as they jumped out to an early 11-3 run to open the first set. A kill from Thomas later pushed the SNU lead to 22-9 as the Storm hit .294 in the first frame to take an early 1-0 lead. And their hitting percentage would only get better from there.
 
Southern Nazarene hit .303 in the second stanza as the Storm leaped out to a 17-8 advantage. The Tigers tried to get back in it but a couple of kills from Ellis pushed the SNU lead to 24-17 as they took a 2-0 lead into the break.
 
The Crimson Storm were ready to get home to start trick-or-treating as they hit .567 in the third set and recorded 20 kills and just three errors. A block from Turang and Tichenor gave SNU a 20-10 lead and after that, head coach Kevin Ingram emptied the bench as the Storm cruised to their third straight Great American Conference victory.
 
Southern Nazarene will be back in action next week for their final two home matches as they welcome in Northwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday at 7:00 and Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday evening at 7:00 for senior night.