BETHANY, Okla.—The Southern Nazarene volleyball team made it two straight wins in two days with a four set win (25-20, 17-25, 25-23, 25-17) over Arkansas-Monticello. The Storm have still never lost to Monticello, having won all 10 contests between the schools.
It was a great start and a great end for the Crimson Storm (7-10, 2-7 GAC), who battled through some tough stretches to take the match in four sets. Monticello (7-13, 2-7 GAC) posted some strong rallies in the middle parts of the contest but SNU was able to use a great start and a great finish to eventually take the match.
Southern Nazarene never trailed in the first set as they were incredibly efficient with their chances, totalling a .353 hitting percentage in that first set win.
Set two would not be quite as kind to the Storm, who hit just .111 in that second frame. Holding an 8-5 advantage, SNU would allow a 13-2 run from Monticello that put the set out of reach.
The third game saw quite a bit of back-and-forth action that ultimately led to a deadlock at 22. The Blossoms took the next point and seemed to be in control with a 23-22 lead, but a service error followed by a Sunny Batschelett block and a Batschelett kill gave the Storm a win in the very important third set.
The fourth set was tight early on, but the Crimson Storm regained their confidence late in the set and took control. Tied at 14, SNU rattled off 11 of the next 14 points to take the set and match.
Southern Nazarene was able to overcome a poor day at the service line. They notched just 3 aces and 7 service errors. Just before SNU's big run to end the match, head coach Kevin Ingram reminded his team to not just focus on getting the ball in, but to drive through the ball on their serves. They would do just that as two of their three aces came during that last push.
Madeline Lynch was exceptional in the libero position in this match. She totalled career-highs in both digs (33) and assists (9).
Breckynn Myers grabbed yet another double-double, this time doing so with 10 kills, a season-high. She also dished out 38 assists and was just two digs shy of a triple-double.
Sunny Batschelett and Shantalle Demirjian led the way offensively with 13 kills a piece. Whitney Bowie was the other Storm member with double-digit kills at 11.
It is a busy week on the road for the Storm next week. They travel to Dallas for a non-conference matchup with Dallas Baptist on Tuesday before traveling to Arkansas for GAC matchups with Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist next weekend. First serve against Dallas Baptist is set for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
