SHAWNEE, Okla.—The Southern Nazarene University volleyball team concluded the regular season on Thursday night as they fell in straight sets (25-20, 25-16, 25-15) to nationally ranked No. 24 Oklahoma Baptist.
The win secures a Great American Conference regular season championship for Oklahoma Baptist (21-3, 14-2 GAC), while Southern Nazarene (11-15, 5-11 GAC) must now await their postseason fate. The Storm currently find themselves in a two-way tie with Southeastern Oklahoma State for the 8 seed, but are also just half a game out from 7th place as Northwestern Oklahoma State takes on the current second place GAC team in Southwestern Oklahoma State tomorrow night.
Oklahoma Baptist showed on Thursday night why they are the top team in the Great American Conference and one of the top teams in the nation. They only trailed twice in the entire match; 1-0 in the second set and 6-4 in the third set, as they cruised to the three set win.
The Crimson Storm stayed within striking distance in the first set, hitting a respectable .200 during that game. It got a bit out of hand, though, following an 8-2 Bison run that pushed the score to 17-9. SNU showed fight, crawling back within 4 points, but ultimately fell 25-20 in the set.
OBU's offense was strong throughout the match, but especially in the third set. They smashed the ball at a .500 hitting clip as they notched 16 kills to just 1 error in the final frame. For the match, Oklahoma Baptist hit .309 to Southern Nazarene's .115.
Sunny Batschelett was once again the Storm leader on the offensive end. She reached double-digit kills for the 8th straight match, and 10th out of the last 11 matches, finishing with 11 on the night.
Grace Miracle totaled 7 kills to go along with 11 digs, while Breckynn Myers notched yet another double-double, also finishing with 11 digs and an even 30 assists.
With the regular season now wrapped up, the Storm await tomorrow's result of the Southwestern vs. Northwestern matchup as they hope to earn a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the Great American Conference championship.
