SEARCY, Ark.—The beginning of a challenging road trip to Arkansas was just that for Southern Nazarene as the Storm fell in straight sets to Harding University (25-22, 25-13, 25-14) on Friday afternoon.

Southern Nazarene (5-9, 0-6 GAC) put together a great fight in the first set but were unable to overcome the strong attack of Harding (9-4, 5-1 GAC). SNU battled back from a 15-12 deficit with a 6-0 run, but the Bisons put together their own 4-0 run to retake the lead. The back-and-forth battle would eventually go the way of Harding as Southern Nazarene was unable to ever retain serve.

Things began to unravel a bit for the Storm in sets two and three. Their hitting percentage dropped nearly 150 points from the first set while Harding's skyrocketed. Harding would not commit a single attack error in the second set as it seemed they could do no wrong.

The service line was an issue for the Crimson Storm all match long. Harding had complete control of the service game as they notched 15 service aces in just three sets, while Southern Nazarene could only manage 2 of their own.

SNU's Female Athlete of the Month, Whitney Bowie, continued to play well, leading the team with 9 kills in the match. Shantalle Demirjian finished second on the team with 7 kills while leading the team with a .286 hitting percentage.

Isabella Mitchell notched a career-high 15 digs in the match.

It is a quick turnaround for the Crimson Storm as the brutal Great American Conference schedule continues tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. when Southern Nazarene takes the short trip over to Russellville, Ark. to do battle with the GAC leading Arkansas Tech Golden Suns. Arkansas Tech is set to take on Oklahoma Baptist on Friday night in a battle for the top spot in the conference. SNU has not defeated Arkansas Tech since 2016.