DURANT, Okla. – After dropping their opening match of the season last night to No. 20 ranked UT-Tyler, the Southern Nazarene volleyball team responded in a big way taking down New Mexico Highlands 3-2 in a five-set thriller.
The rust is starting to get shaken off for head coach
Kevin Ingram and company, as the Crimson Storm (1-1, 0-0 GAC) secured their first victory of the season in the second leg of the Southeastern Classic hosted by the Savage Storm. The match couldn't have been more even across the board as the Cowgirls (0-2, 0-0 RMAC) hit .168 for the contest while SNU finished with a .166 hitting clip.
NMH had the slight edge in kills with 62 compared to 57 for the Storm, but SNU had 9 blocks and 99 total digs in the contest as well. Both teams had 10 service aces while the Cowgirls tallied 28 total errors and SNU came in with 26.
The Crimson Storm's offensive attack featured two players that finished with double-figure kills as freshman
Whitney Bowie led the charge with a career-high 15 kills. Sophomore middle blocker
Sunny Batschelett racked up 10 kills to go with a pair of blocks and digs while Bowie added seven digs and three service aces, another career-high for #17.
Shantalle Demirjian had a strong outing with nine kills and six digs while
Bailey Grimes tallied eight kills and a team-high four blocks.
On the defensive end, sophomore
Madeline Lynch had a career night as she amassed 31 digs, a personal-best for the defensive specialist. Three others finished with double-digit digs as senior
Meagan Ellis racked up 14 digs to go with six kills,
Grace Miracle tallied 11 with four kills, and
Breckynn Myers finished with 11 as well as a team-high 22 assists. Freshman setter
Kaley Brubaker came off the Storm bench and chipped in 20 assists for SNU as well.
Right from the opening serve, this had all the makings of a thrilling match as both teams hit right around .250 for the first frame. After a battle, the Cowgirls took the set 25-20 to take the early 1-0 advantage. Careful not to get themselves into too big of a hole, Southern Nazarene turned their defense up a notch in the second stanza, holding NMH to a .133 hitting clip while turning that into 13 kills on the offensive side. SNU battled back to take the frame 25-22 to tie it up at 1-1.
The third set was one of the most competitive sets the Crimson Storm have faced in recent memory. Back and forth both teams went, trading points well beyond 25 as the Cowgirls eventually took the set 33-31, seemingly sucking the life right out of SNU. But coach Ingram's squad never quit as they held NMH to a .132 clip in the fourth and pushed it to a 5
th set after taking the frame 25-22.
After tallying 12 kills through the first four sets, Bowie turned it up a notch in the fifth as she tacked on three more kills and never gave NMH a chance. SNU jumped out to a 9-6 advantage before later pushing it to 13-7. New Mexico Highlands tried to make a push, but the Storm defense slammed the door and took the match.
Southern Nazarene will close out the Southeastern Classic tomorrow night as they battle the MIAA's Emporia State. First serve with the Hornets is slated for 5:00 p.m. in Durant.
