WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Kylie Smith broke the Southern Nazarene all-time assist record on Tuesday night in a gut-wrenching five-set loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
 
Smith needed 23 assists entering the match to pass Kaylee Piatt (2011-14) for career assists and the senior reached the mark in the second set. She finished with 55 in the match for the Crimson Storm (20-10, 9-6 GAC) as they couldn't close out the Bulldogs (15-11, 11-4 GAC) on their home floor.
 
Meagan Ellis led the way for SNU on the offensive side of the net with season highs of 16 kills and 24 digs. Logan Matthews had a career-high 33 digs in the match as she helped anchor the Storm defense in holding SWOSU to a .150 hitting percentage for the match. Bailey Grimes also had a career-high 15 kills in the contest to go along with four block assists. Kayla Thomas added 12 kills and three service aces while Bailee Turang finished with 11 kills for SNU.
 
On the Storm bench, Sunny Batschelett added five kills and a couple of blocks while Madeline Lynch added 11 digs and Breckynn Myers chipped in five.
 
It was a defensive battle for all five sets as both teams were held to below .200 hitting on the night. The Bulldogs racked up 11 service aces compared to 8 for the Crimson Storm, while SNU also had 8 service errors while SWOSU had just one. For just the second time this season, Southern Nazarene eclipsed the 100-dig mark as they finished with 111 while Southwestern racked up 107.
 
SNU got off to a quick start in the first set as they hit .250 and tallied three service aces. They held the Bulldogs to a .096 hitting clip as they jumped out to a 20-13 lead. SWOSU cut it to 23-18 before a couple of kills from Grimes and Batschelett gave the Storm the early 1-0 lead. Southwestern came right back in the second set and held SNU to a .098 clip as they evened things up at 1-1.
 
The Crimson Storm regained their footing in the third stanza as they registered a game-high 16 kills in the frame. It was a back and forth affair for most of the set as a kill from Thomas tied the match 22-22. Later, a kill from Grimes and a couple of attacking errors from SWOSU gave the Storm the 2-1 advantage.
 
Much like the second set, the Bulldogs responded in the fourth with 15 kills and holding SNU to zero aces in the frame. SWOSU jumped out to a 19-13 lead and that proved to be too much for the Storm to overcome. They tried to make it interesting by cutting it to 23-21 but Southwestern got two straight kills to tie it 2-2 and force the match into a fifth set.
 
Both offenses got going in the final frame as SWOSU took a 13-9 lead before four straight points from the Storm tied it at 13-13. The Bulldogs picked up a couple of kills to wrap it up and take the victory on their home floor.
 
Southern Nazarene will play their final regular season match of the 2019 season on Thursday night in Durant as they take on Southeastern Oklahoma State at 7 p.m.