BETHANY, Okla. – After a long stretch of road contests, Southern Nazarene returned to Bethany for another non-conference match, where they hosted and defeated Southwest Baptist, 3-1.
 
Before Friday's matchup, The Storm (8-3, 1-0 GAC) and the Bearcats (6-4, 0-0) traded wins and losses among the four total meetings. Staying the course of their latest win streak, SNU snuck one more win to their record against SBU after taking down the Bearcats inside the Sawyer Center in four sets. SBU committed twice as many errors compared to the Storm, which proved to be a key turning point in the final score. SNU also had four members achieve double-digit kills in the match, contributing to an overall .236 hitting percentage.
 
 
The teams began set 1 by trading points for multiple ties midway through the set. SNU started to pull away with the help of a few Bearcat errors but an SNU timeout late in the set made all the difference. Ahead 20-19 coming out of the timeout, SNU warded off the Bearcats with a 5-0 run, starting the match off strong with a set 1 win, 25-19
 
 
Both teams went at one another from behind the net in set 2, trading blocks to keep the scoring gap close. The Bearcats caught a quick boost late, pulling together a 6-0 run for the 22-17 lead. Southwest Baptist capitalized on both the offensive and defensive end in the final possessions and SNU could not contain their fire. The Bearcats held up and stole set 2, 25-19.
 
 
SNU exploded at the start of set 3, outscoring the Bearcats 7-1 to force an SBU timeout. SNU's fire continued on and they quickly jumped ahead by six. The Bearcats picked up the pace from there and stumped SNU with a 16-16 tie. The teams challenged each other with numerous ties, until kills from Rayanna Mauldin and Whitney Bowie and a block from Tessa Henry allowed SNU to escape the Bearcats, taking set 3, 25-22.
 
 
The pressure was on for the Storm as they looked to avoid the chance of a five-set match.
Back-to-back service aces from Kaley Brubaker pushed SNU ahead early with the 4-1 lead in set 4. Consecutive kills by the Storm and a few attack errors from SBU allowed SNU's lead to skyrocket to 13-5. The Bearcats played catch-up the rest of the way but were able to rally back to a four-point deficit at 22-18.  Back-to-back kills from Henry and Tynaa Mojica gave SNU the cushion they needed and the collected block from Sunny Batschelett and Mojica finished the set off 25-10, making the 3-1 win over the Bearcats their fourth consecutive victory.
 
Bowie, Batschelett, Henry, and Mauldin each achieved double-digit kills with 13, 12, 11, and 10, respectively.
 
Brubaker led in assists with 44 while Tatum Smith led in digs with 21.
 
SNU will be back in action on Saturday, September 16^th as they host another non-conference opponent before returning to GAC play. Their match with Drury University is set for 2:00 p.m.