DURANT, Okla.—Another grueling five-set match did not fall Southern Nazarene's way as the Crimson Storm were unable to seize momentum in the final set, leading to a 3-2 loss (25-18, 17-25, 23-25, 25-22, 9-15) at the hands of Southeastern Oklahoma State.
After a disappointing sweep on Tuesday, Southern Nazarene seemed to put that behind them as they completely controlled the first set on the way to a 25-18 win. The Crimson Storm hit an impressive .360 in that first game. They collected an incredible 6 aces in the set, three of which came back-to-back-back off the hands of Meagan Ellis.
Set two would not come as easily for the Crimson Storm. They hit just .077 in the frame and did not record another ace. Still, they found themselves knotted at 16 with Southeastern before the Savage Storm broke it open with a 9-1 run to close out the set. Four of those nine Southeastern points would come by way of SNU attack errors.
The Savage Storm grabbed control of the match after a tight third set led to a nail-biting 25-23 win. Tied at 20, Southeastern tallied three consecutive kills to give them a 23-20 advantage. While the Crimson Storm showed fight to cut the deficit back to just one point, Southeastern was able to hold on to set point with one final kill in the set.
Southern Nazarene regrouped in set four and jumped out to an 18-10 advantage. They nearly gave the set away, though, as the Savage Storm put together a late flurry, notching a string of 7 points in 8 serves and turning an 8 point deficit into just a 2 point deficit. After six attempts at set point, the Crimson Storm finally came through with a Meagan Ellis kill that ended the set.
Despite losing the fourth set, Southeastern gained a great deal of momentum from the end of that fourth set and would carry it into the fifth set. They jumped all over the Crimson Storm by scoring 8 of the first 10 points in the game. A timeout from head coach Kevin Ingram would calm his team down as they responded with three straight points, but Southeastern came back with a string of four points, including three straight service aces of their own. Holding a 12-5 advantage, the Savage Storm would cruise through the remainder of the fifth set as they went on to win 15-9.
Breckynn Myers dished the ball all over the court. She finished with 46 assists, just shy of her career high of 48 assists last season.
Myers spread the ball to a number of teammates, leading to four different Storm players with double-digit kills. Sunny Batschelett led the way with a game-high 16 kills, matching her career-high. Meagan Ellis and Bailey Grimes each tallied 11, while Whitney Bowie was not far behind with 10 kills.
Logan Matthews was the defensive leader for the Crimson Storm, tallying a season-high 22 digs.
Great American Conference play does not get any easier for the Storm as next time out they will host No. 18 Oklahoma Baptist in the Gold Laces game. The Bison got the best of the Storm with a pair of sweeps last season. SNU will look to remedy that on Tuesday, Sept. 28. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
