BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Nazarene was dominant in every facet of the match on Tuesday night as they swept Northwestern Oklahoma State (25-15, 26-24, 25-15) and officially clinched a spot in the Great American Conference Championship tournament. The Sawyer Center was rocking all night as they cheered on the Storm in their annual Dig Pink Match.=
The Crimson Storm (15-11, 8-5 GAC) fell in three sets on the road to Northwestern earlier this season, but they got sweet revenge on Tuesday as they completely controlled the match in a straight-set sweep of Northwestern (16-11, 7-6).
SNU was the better team in every statistical category on Tuesday. They out-hit the Rangers .326 to .169. They out-served the Rangers five aces to one. They out-blocked Northwestern five to three, and they out-dug Northwestern 68 to 49. SNU's .326 hitting percentage was their best since August 27 and best in all of their GAC matches this season.
SNU set the tone of the match from the beginning of game one. They built a 10 point lead in the game and never looked back. It was the Sunny Batschelett show as she tallied an incredible 8 kills in that first game. She finished the match with 14.
Game two was much tighter and it appeared Northwestern had found their groove. At one point they built a five-point advantage and eventually led 24-21. Already leading 1-0 in the match, Southern Nazarene could have easily accepted defeat in game two, but they had other ideas. The Sawyer Center erupted after SNU scored five straight points, including three kills and a service ace, to steal the second set right out of Northwestern's hands.
The Rangers never recovered after a devastating loss in set two. They allowed a 7-0 run midway through game three that all but sealed the match. The Storm expanded their lead all the way to 22-11 before cruising to a 25-15 match sealing win.
Along with Batschelett's 14 kills, Whitney Bowie added 12 kills, while Shantalle Demirjian also added 10. Tessa Henry was close behind with 9 kills of her own.
Kaley Brubaker was sensational at finding her teammates. She finished with 44 assists, nearly 15 assists per set. She also added 13 digs.
Three other Storm players added double-digit digs as freshman, Katelyn Branson, led the way with 15. Breckynn Myers was not far behind with 14 digs, while also adding 3 assists. Madeline Lynch totaled 10 digs for the night.
The win pushed SNU all the way into a tie for fourth place in the Great American Conference as well as officially clinched a spot in the Great American Conference Championship tournament November 10-12. After putting together their two best performances of the season, SNU will hope to carry momentum through the remainder of the schedule and position themselves as a top seed in the tournament. They will have their chance to do so, closing the season against the current no. 2 and no. 3 teams in the conference. Before those games, though, the Crimson Storm will travel to Durant to take on Southeastern Oklahoma State. The Crimson Storm defeated Southeastern at home in five sets earlier this season. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday in Durant.
