BETHANY, Okla.—A brutal stretch of tough Great American Conference games finally came to an end as Southern Nazarene notched their first conference win of the year, taking care of Southern Arkansas in four sets (25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 25-14).
The Storm (6-10, 1-7 GAC) just missed out on their first sweep of the season. They led 23-20 in the third set before Southern Arkansas (5-13, 1-7 GAC) rattled off four straight points to take the lead at 24-23. SNU would force an extended set, but ultimately were defeated 26-24 in that third set. They bounced back in a big way, dominating the fourth set after an incredible 10-0 run early in the frame. The team hit a very impressive .379 in that final set. They finished the match hitting .222 overall.
Southern Nazarene won each of the first two sets by a score of 25-20. In the first set, SNU used an early 6-0 run to build a lead. They would fend off the Muleriders the rest of the way en route to a five point set win. Set two saw the Storm trail 17-19 late in the frame, but they rallied to put together an 8-1 run that included 3 Sunny Batschelett kills to jump in front 2-0 in the match.
The serve/receive game has been something that head coach, Kevin Ingram has been stressing to his team over the past couple of weeks and it certainly paid off in this game. The Storm amassed 13 total aces in the match while limiting Southern Arkansas to just 3.
Breckynn Myers was once again in the center of all the action for Southern Nazarene. She collected her seventh double-double of the season and put together her highest assist total in any non-five set match this season at 43.
Whitney Bowie again was the attacking leader for the Storm, matching a season-high of 15 kills. She hit over .400 for the second consecutive game and has hit over .350 in 3 of the last 4 matches. She is up to 153 kills on the year.
Southern Nazarene will look to make it two-in-a-row with a quick turnaround in tomorrow's 1:00 p.m. meeting with Arkansas-Monticello. SNU has never lost to Monticello, although each of the last two meetings have gone all five sets. The Blossoms sit at 2-6 in the GAC and are coming off a sweep at the hands of Oklahoma Baptist on Friday night. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
