SAN ANGELO, Texas—Just as they did yesterday, Southern Nazarene split their two games on Saturday at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational. The Storm swept Texas A&M Kingsville in the early 8:00 a.m. match, but found themselves on the wrong end of a sweep in match two against Colorado State-Pueblo.
Match 1:
The Crimson Storm kept it rolling from match two's sweep on Friday with another sweep to open the day on Saturday. They did not let the early morning 8:00 a.m. start slow them down one bit as SNU used another strong offensive performance to propel them to the win.
After putting together a .339 hitting percentage as a team in Friday's second game, Southern Nazarene topped that mark on Saturday morning with a .343 showing, racking up 46 kills to just 12 attack errors.
All three sets were close as Kingsville reached the 20 point plateau in each game, but Southern Nazarene was strong to the finish each time, completing the sweep 25-23, 25-22, and 25-20.
In set one, the teams found themselves tied at 19 and traded the next 8 points. Down 23-22, SNU rattled off three consecutive points to steal set one and take control of the match.
The second game required another strong finish from the Crimson Storm to secure the win. The Javelinas led 19-15 at one point, but Southern Nazarene never wavered and countered with a 10-3 run to close out the set. That run included 4 kills from Sunny Batschelett, who finished the match with a game-high 14.
The final set was again close at 19-18 in favor of SNU, and again Southern Nazarene finished strong, scoring six of the final eight points to secure the win and their second consecutive sweep.
Whitney Bowie added 9 kills to go along with her 4 blocks in the match. Shantalle Demirjian was not far behind with 8 kills of her own. Tessa Henry notched 7 kills and Bailey Grimes added 6.
Kaley Brubaker continued to run the offense extremely well from the setter position. She notched a career-high in assists yet again, this time reaching 41 for the match.
Match 2:
Despite being swept in match two, Southern Nazarene put together another solid performance on the offensive end as they hit .276 for the match, including a remarkable .400 in set two. They were bested by a solid CSU-Pueblo squad, though, who hit .310 in the match, and .500 in that pivotal set two.
Set one was up for grabs throughout as the teams were deadlocked at 20, but CSU-P pulled away with a 5-0 run to close the set and take the advantage in the match.
As well as SNU hit the ball in set two, Pueblo was that much better and jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead and never looked back. The Storm never recovered and ultimately fell 25-16 and found themselves in a hole down 2-0 for the match.
The final set saw Pueblo take a 7-4 lead that they never relinquished. SNU threatened throughout the set and kept it close as they were down just 20-19 late, but they were unable to ever get over the hump and eventually fell 25-22 to close the match.
Whitney Bowie and Sunny Batschelett each notched double-digit kills with 13 and 11, respectively. Shantalle Demirjian was not far behind with 9 of her own.
Kaley Brubaker dished out 38 assists in the match, giving her 139 for the tournament. She notched 11.58 assists per set in her 12 sets played.
Southern Nazarene will return to action next weekend for another tournament. They will have much less travel this time, heading right down the road to Edmond for the UCO/OC Festival. See SNU's tournament schedule below.
Friday, Sept. 2
Emporia State- 1:30 p.m. (at Oklahoma Christian)
Central Oklahoma- 6:00 p.m. (at University of Central Oklahoma)
Saturday, Sept. 3
Oklahoma Christian- 12:30 p.m. (at Oklahoma Christian)
St. Mary's- 4:30 p.m. (at Oklahoma Christian)
