BETHANY, Okla. - After securing two sweeps on their home court this week, Southern Nazarene's sweep streak was snapped by Southern Arkansas who defeated the Storm in four sets.

Prior to their Friday meeting, The Muleriders (11-10, 5-4 GAC) and The Storm (13-8, 4-5) were both 4-4 in GAC play, making this a "one-to-watch" match inside the Sawyer Center. Southern Arkansas was the squad to turn the GAC win number from a four to a five after getting the early edge over the Storm and then getting the job done in sets 3 and 4. 

As one would expect from these two squads, the start of set 1 was fairly close and both teams traded leads and tied often. Tied at 6-6, the Muleriders went on a 6-1 run and quickly took a four-point lead over the Storm which prompted them to take a timeout. 

Southern Nazarene caught fire and quickly regained the lead at 17-16, largely contributed by Sunny Batschelett's four kills down the stretch. SNU held that lead up into the later part of set 1, but three consecutive points from the Muleriders put them ahead 21-20 and Kevin Ingram took time. Abby Conaway's kill was the last the Storm could deliver in the final possessions and SAU's 4-0 run eared them the set 1 win, 25-21. 

After battling back-and-forth to start set 2, the Storm took advantage of a few SAU errors and used Breckynn Meyers' service ace to cruise to a 7-4 lead before the Muleriders were forced to take a timeout. The Storm shot their lead up to 10-4  before the Muleriders put out the fire and cut the deficit back down to three at 11-8. The squads went back and forth from there, but Whitney Bowie took the court by Storm with two kills and a monster block all in consecutive possessions, pushing their lead back up to four over SAU. 

Service errors by the Storm gave the Muleriders a bit of light late in the set and that fueled their mini comeback, putting them back behind the Storm, 21-20. SNU accepted the pressure and outscored the Muleriders 4-1 in the final possessions, taking set 2, 25-21 to tie the match at 1-1. 

SNU's performance carried over into set 3 and they exploded for a 4-0 run. The Muleriders rattled off a couple of points and the teams were back to more lead changes and ties SAU caught a quick burst and eventually built a 15-12 lead at the halfway point. 

SAU continued to apply pressure on the Storm, bumping their lead all the way up 21-15 before the Storm organized a comeback. Rayanna Mauldin's back-to-back kills and a SAU error put them within three of the Muleriders and Kaley Brubaker's three consecutive service aces tied the match at 21 all. After trading points in the final few possessions, Southern Arkansas reached set point with a two-point lead, but kills from Whitney Bowie and Tessa Henry re-tied the match 24-24. 

A bad set from the Storm gave the Muleriders a one-point edge and they powered down a kill to seal SNU's fate, winning set 3 26-24 to move up 2-1 over SNU. 

The Muleriders began the fourth set with a 4-0 run and held on to that lead for the majority of the fourth set. SNU delivered a few powerful kills to keep that lead at bay, but SAU was on a mission at the net, powering down rounds of kills to eventually skyrocket to a 14-7, forcing SNU to take a timeout. 

The Muleriders kept their distance, making an SNU rally a difficult task. The Muleriders were able to land their largest lead of the set at 20-10 before Sunny Batschelett found a hole in the Mulerider defense to put them back behind nine. SNU was never able to channel enough momentum to organize a comeback and the Muleriders went on to secure the set four win, 25-20. 

Mauldin led in kills with 16 and Batschelett was just behind her with 13. 

Brubaker tallied 48 assists. Madeline Lynch led in digs with 19 and Myers and Mauldin followed with 15 and 13 respectively. 

Up Next

SNU will host Cameron on Tuesday, October 17 at 7 p.m. for one of their very last non-conference matchups this season.