ADA, Okla.—Coming off their first loss in eight matches, Southern Nazarene was unable to regain their momentum as they fell in three sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-23) at East Central on Thursday night.
The Crimson Storm (13-11, 7-5 GAC) had been rolling offensively, but they never found their rhythm in Ada as they hit just .099 in the match, their lowest in GAC play this season. On the other side, East Central (12-14, 8-5 GAC) hit .215 in the match.
Southern Nazarene held a six-point lead in the first set, but they surrendered a 14-2 run that flipped the set upside down. With East Central now holding a six point advantage, they cruised to a 25-20 win in set one.
Set two saw the same final score but took a different route to get there. It was tight throughout the game and SNU ultimately found themselves down just one point at 19-18. They could not get over the hump, though, allowing three straight ECU kills that led to a 22-18 Tiger lead. From there, East Central again cruised to the 25-20 set win.
Set three was the tightest of the match. The teams traded punches, but again SNU could not gain an advantage. They got within a point on multiple occasions late in the game, but never climbed all the way back after allowing a 3-0 run lead to a 20-17 ECU lead. The Storm fought off match-point once with a Sunny Batschelett kill but could not extend the set as the Tigers took the final game 25-23.
Batschelett led the team offensively with 9 kills. She also added 2 blocks. Tessa Henry was not far behind with 8 kills and 2 blocks of her own.
Shantalle Demirjian and Whitney Bowie each totaled 7 kills and 3 blocks.
Kaley Brubaker secured her fifth straight double-double with 28 assists and 12 digs.
Reigning GAC Defensive Player of the Week, Madeline Lynch, had a match-high 17 digs.
The Crimson Storm will try to get back on track on Saturday when they return home for a non-conference matchup with Dallas Baptist. DBU swept Southern Nazarene in Dallas last season. The Patriots come in riding an 11 game winning streak. SNU will hope to put an end to that on Saturday. First serve is set for 2:00 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
