BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene Volleyball had another fast match at home on Thursday after knocking off Akansas-Monticello in three straight sets.
The Blossoms (0-20, 0-8 GAC) have been in quite the season-slump, having yet to secure a victory prior to their meeting with SNU. The Storm (13-7, 4-4 GAC) kept that streak alive on Thursday afternoon with a dominant performance in all categories, both on the offensive and defensive end. SNU had three Storm players with double-digit digs and nearly three with double-digit kills, making it an all-around team effort against the Blossoms.
UAM surprised the Storm with a 3-0 start and went on to maintain a 7-4 lead before Kevin Ingram called a timeout to regroup his squad. The Storm excited their attack game and were able to rally back from a five-point deficit to lead 12-11 before Monticello was forced to take time.
SNU's offense and defense continued to ramp up and they soon built a 7-0 run to set the Blossoms back by seven, and the Storm were in good standings the rest of the set. Sunny Batschelett fueled the Storm's fire late with three consecutive kills of her own to keep SNU far away from the Blossoms. UAM had three back-to-back points late, but that was not enough to lessen the gap and SNU took set 1, 25-18.
The Blossoms and the Storm were close in score early in set 2, with UAM managing a 13-12 lead before Coach Ingram took time once more. Southern Nazarene rekindled their fire from set 1 and took advantage of a few Blossom errors to take a three-point lead. Kills from Kaley Brubaker and Rayanna Mauldin bumped SNU ahead by five and the Blossoms headed to the benches for time. The teams traded points in the final possessions, but solid play from the Storm all set long secured them the 25-20 set 2 win.
The Blossoms continued to stay within arms reach of the Storm early in the third set, until the Storm busted out a round of kills that allowed them to jump to six-point lead at 14-8. UAM did not go down easy, rallying back with five unanswered points to close the gap to one. SNU responded back with kills from Tessa Henry and Batschelett as well as back-to-back service aces from Abby Conaway, getting back up to a six-point lead.
SNU stayed the course and continued to deliver at the net while coming up big on defense to ward off the Blossoms once and for all, closing out set 3, 25-16 for the second consecutive sweep this week.
Batschelett and Mauldin each were in the double-digit kill category with 12 and 10, respectively.
Brubaker and Breckynn Meyers each secured 12 digs and Madeline Lynch brought in 10.
Brubaker also had a great day in the assist category with 33.
Up Next
Southern Nazarene remains at home as they take on Southern Arkansas Friday, October 13th at 4 p.m. The Muleriders will be a tougher match up for the Storm as they closely match SNU in conference with a 4-3 record.
