DURANT, Okla.—Southern Nazarene made it back-to-back sweeps this week with a quick three set dismantling (25-16, 25-14, 25-18) of Southeastern Oklahoma State Thursday night on the road.
For the second straight match, Southern Nazarene (16-11, 9-5 GAC) was dominant in all facets against Southeastern (4-23, 1-14 GAC). They out-hit Southeastern .305 to .134 and they out-dug them 43 to 36. One of the biggest differences in the match came at the service line. The Crimson Storm tied a season-high with 10 aces in the match. Six of those aces came in just the first set.
SNU never trailed in the first set despite giving up a 6-0 run. After allowing a 10-3 lead to disappear, Southern Nazarene put together their own 7-0 run to once again break the game wide open. From there, SNU was able to cruise to a 25-16 win in game one.
Southeastern was able to get out to a 5-1 lead in game two, but the Crimson Storm then scored 11 of the next 13 points and regained control. That was not the only huge run SNU put together in that game, though. They later tallied a 10-1 run to seal the game at 25-14 and move to a commanding 2-0 lead overall.
Southern Nazarene continued to dominate in the third set. Southeastern showed some life late as they turned a 22-11 deficit into just a 23-18 deficit, but it was too little, too late. Whitney Bowie and Kaley Brubaker teamed up to seal the match with a block. It was Bowie's eighth total block in the match, and Bruabker's fifth total block in the match. Both marks were new career-highs.
Sunny Batschelett and Whitney Bowie each finished with 11 kills in the match. They were incredibly efficient as Bowie hit .529 and Batschelett hit .400. Shantalle Demrjian added 8 kills.
Kaley Brubaker was all over the stat sheet with 34 assists, 8 digs, 5 blocks, and 3 aces.
Madeline Lynch matched Brubaker with 3 aces of her own, and also added 12 digs.
The win moves the Crimson Storm into fourth place in the Great American Conference with a chance to move even higher. SNU has two games remaining on the schedule this season and will face off with the current second placed team, Oklahoma Baptist at home before traveling to Weatherford to take on the current third placed team, Southwestern Oklahoma State.
SNU's meeting next Tuesday with Oklahoma Baptist will be their final home match of the season. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center on November 1st.
