BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Nazarene moved to 2-0 inside the Sawyer Center this season following a wild five set win (25-23, 25-11, 19-25, 21-25, 15-11) over Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday night.
The Crimson Storm (6-7, 2-1 GAC) looked to be on their way to a sweep after winning the first set and completely dominating the second set, but the Bulldogs (5-7, 2-1 GAC) showed their grit and won the following two sets to force a decisive fifth and final game.
SNU took an early 6-1 lead in the first set, but SWOSU battled back and finally captured their first lead at 19-18. Both teams went back-and-forth and found themselves knotted at 23. The Storm were able to snatch the next two points, after kills from Shantalle Demirjian and Whitney Bowie to claim set one. Demirijian had a very impressive 7 kills in the first set. She finished the match with 16 kills. She is averaging over three and a half kills per set in SNU's two home matches this season.
SWOSU had no answers for SNU in the second set. The Storm quickly jumped in front 8-0 and continued to expand that lead up to 18-3. The Bulldogs never got close to the Storm as SNU easily took the second set 25-11. The Crimson Storm hit .409 in that game, while limiting the Bulldogs to a hitting percentage below 0.
Southwestern, who finished second in the Great American Conference last season, showed why they are so difficult to beat, let alone sweep, in the third and fourth sets. The third game was close throughout, but with the score at 18-17 in SWOSU's favor, they rattled off a three point run to build enough cushion to claim their first set of the match.
In similar fashion in the fourth set, the teams were tied at 18 before SWOSU rattled off a four point run that again gave them enough separation to earn a set win and tie the match at 2.
Despite allowing Southwestern to battle back and force a deciding game five, Southern Nazarene did not waver. They never trailed in the set and took the game 15-11 to earn a hard-fought match win over the Bulldogs. Sunny Batschelett finished off SWOSU with her fourth kill of the shortened fifth set. She ended the match with 16 kills, tying Shantalle Demirjian for a team-high.
Whitney Bowie and Tessa Henry were also aggressive offensively as they reached double-digit kills with 14 and 12, respectively. They have both reached double-digit kills in four consecutive matches.
Kaley Brubaker set a new career-high in assists with 53. She also collected 14 digs to give her another double-double. She has three straight double-doubles, and six in her last seven matches.
Senior libero, Madeline Lynch tied a season-high with 19 digs. She has recorded double-digit digs in 10 of SNU's 13 matches this season.
Southern Nazarene is off this weekend but will be back in action on Tuesday, September 20 inside the Sawyer Center. They will host East Central in another Great American Conference matchup. Last season the Tigers won both contests in five sets. SNU will look for their revenge on Tuesday. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
