BETHANY, Okla.—For the second time in two meetings, Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Christian went the distance, battling through all five sets. This time it was the Crimson Storm who were able to come away with the five set win as they dominated that decisive fifth set.
Early on it appeared that the Crimson Storm (9-12, 3-8 GAC) might cruise through the match as they easily dispatched of the Eagles (7-16, 3-9 LSC) in the first set. They put together two separate 5-0 runs on their way to a 25-16 set one win. They followed that up with an early 12-5 lead in set two. An Oklahoma Christian timeout would finally wake their squad up as things completely turned from that point. They scored 13 of the next 15 points and suddenly built an 18-14 lead. SNU cut the deficit to just one point, but never again saw the lead as Oklahoma Christian took set two 25-22.
It was game on the rest of the way. Set three saw six ties that led to a stalemate at 19-all before the Storm finally grabbed the upper hand. They scored six of the next seven points and closed the set out in style with back-to-back block assists from Whitney Bowie and Grace Miracle. Those two blocks from Miracle were part of a career-high 5 block effort. It would be an all-around career-night for Miracle, who also matched a career-high 11 kills and season-high 16 digs in the effort.
Set four was a game of runs. The Eagles quickly opened the set with a 5-0 lead, but a few points later the Crimson Storm responded with their own 8-0 run that landed them a 10-7 advantage. After trading points, Oklahoma Christian again strung together a rally, this time of six points as they regained a 17-14 lead. They would extend that lead to 21-15 before SNU again responded with a 6-0 run to tie things at 21. The Storm looked to seal the match right there, but it was the Eagles' turn to close the set in style as they took four of the next five points.
In the last matchup between these teams, Oklahoma Christian controlled the fifth set with an early 6-0 that allowed them to cruise to a 15-7 win. The roles were reversed on Tuesday night as this time SNU used their own 6-0 run midway through the set to build a commanding 12-6 lead. Like Oklahoma Christian did two years ago, Southern Nazarene then cruised to a 15-7 win.
Leading into the fifth set, Southern Nazarene was hitting just .159 for the match. They found their rhythm just when they needed to, hitting a solid .286 in that pivotal final game.
Miracle was not the only one to have a big night for the Storm. The entire team came up huge on the defensive end, totalling 13 total blocks for the second consecutive match. Prior to the game at Ouachita on Saturday, Southern Nazarene had not reached that number since a five-set win over Arkansas Tech back in 2016. The team is now up to 1.96 blocks per set, good for fourth in Great American Conference.
Breckynn Myers also notched a season-high of 47 assists in the match, just one off her career high 48 assist game last season. She is now just 3 assists shy of 1,000 for her career.
It will be imperative for the Storm to build off this win moving forward. With just five games remaining, the Crimson Storm will need to take full advantage of the conference slate ahead of them if they wish to earn a spot in the GAC championship tournament. Southern Nazarene currently sits just one game out of the final eighth spot, but have their opportunity to make that game up on Thursday when current 8th place team Southeastern Oklahoma State comes to the Sawyer Center for the annual Dig Pink matchup. Following Thursday's matchup, both SNU and Southeastern will take on the same four teams; Northwestern Oklahoma State, Southwestern Oklahoma State, East Central, and Oklahoma Baptist, as they battle for the final spot in the tournament. Southeastern got the best of Southern Nazarene in a wild five-set matchup back on Sept. 23. SNU will look for their revenge and a share of 8th place on Thursday. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
