ALVA, Okla. — Southern Nazarene Volleyball bounced back from a four-game losing skid Tuesday night after knocking off Northwestern Oklahoma State on their court in a battle of five sets.
Earlier this season, the Storm (15-12,5-8 GAC) swept the Rangers (10-4,2-1 GAC) in Bethany for their second GAC victory of the year. SNU made that two wins over NWOSU last night after rattling off a 2-1 match deficit to take care of business down the stretch. Southern Nazarene's defense powered them through the entire match, tallying 15 total blocks and 18 more digs than their opponent.
The Storm were down by as many as six points in the later part of the first set until a 5-0 run set them back 20-19. The explosive offense from Sunny Batschelett, Whitney Bowie, and Rayanna Mauldin pushed SNU up by a point and Tynaa Mojica sent down the set-winning kill (25-23) to give SNU the 1-0 advantage.
NWOSU was awarded the second set win largely by consecutive errors from the Storm midway through the set. The Rangers controlled a six-point lead that carried them through the entire set. SNU was able to shrink it down to the three points, but NWOSU had an answer for every Storm attack and stole set 2, 25-21.
The Storm held a slim lead early in the third set, but NWOSU quickly stole the lead by five midway through. Those points were cut down to one after three consecutive kills from SNU. The Rangers felt the pressure and exploded for a 6-0 run that SNU was never able to recover from. NWOSU's late fire secured them the set 3 win, 25-22.
Looking to avoid another Ranger set victory, Southern Nazarene fought to stay ahead, battling their way to a 13-7 lead. The Rangers cut that lead with a few scoring runs to eventually trail by just a single point. Southern Nazarene stayed the course, using the attacks of Mojica, Bowie, Batschelett, and Mauldin to ward off the Rangers in the final possessions, taking set 4, 25-20.
Now tied at 2-2 in the match, Southern Nazarene amped up their offense to pull away early. The Storm were unstoppable to start set 5, getting up to a 6-1 lead over NWOSU. A few SNU attack errors by the Storm put NWOSU within two points of the Storm. This did not phase SNU as they continued to outperform NWOSU down the stretch, delivering two consecutive service aces and a few kills to eventually put the Rangers away, 15-9 for the match win.
Batschelett put up 17 kills on the Rangers, including five blocks.
Mauldin achieved a double-double in Alva with 13 kills and 16 digs. Bowie also had double digit kills with 11.
Brubaker had a match-high 39 assists and Madeline Lynch had a match-high in digs with 26.
Up Next
Southern Nazarene will be back at home Thursday, November 2nd to host Southwestern Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. SNU lost in four sets to the Bulldogs earlier this season in Weatherford.
