SE Athletics
Matt Thomas
DURANT – With her second kill in the first set, D’Nari Mills became the fifth player to reach 1000 kills for Southeastern Oklahoma State. SE (4-7, 1-1) battled back and forth in five sets with East Central, but the Tigers would find the win late in the fifth set.
Ruthie Forson did it all in attack for SE with a team-high 19 kills on a .395 attack average and dished out 42 assists. Noelia Rocha and Mills recorded 17 and 12 kills, respectively, while Mills saw a double-double with 16 digs. Patience Lewis paced the back row with 37 digs, and Michera Moffett led the side with 4.0 total blocks.
SET ONE
A strong start by Southeastern had them ahead 5-2, following kills by Maci Morrison, Moffett and Mills. ECU flipped the script on the Storm on a 7-1 burst to grab the lead 9-6. The Tigers kept the Storm at arms-length through the following exchanges. After a timeout by Southeastern, the blue-and-gold trimmed the gap to one point on a flurry of points, including a 5-1 run.
Southeastern remained on the heels of the Tigers, but East Central would rattle off two quick points before closing out the set on a 3-0 run to take the frame 25-21.
SET TWO
Southeastern and East Central went point-for-point through the early goings, with the set tied at 12-all. The Tigers began to find some separation, but their lead would soon disappear on a 5-0 run by SE, featuring three kills by Forson and two from Rocha to give the Storm a 19-16 edge. ECU kept close, and again the two sides would be deadlocked at 22-all.
After an SE timeout, the Storm went ahead 23-22, but ECU quickly responded, scoring two straight points to go back in front 24-23. SE used its final timeout after the flurry of points and tied the set at 24-all out of the break. The ECU attack would prove too much, scoring the final two points to win the set 26-24.
SET THREE
The Storm opened the frame with a 10-6 lead after back-to-back kills by Moffett and another from Forson. SE held a two to three-point margin over the Tigers but would soon be under pressure from ECU. East Central rattled off a pair of points in bursts to tie the set 18-all and eventually took the lead 19-18.
Southeastern replied with a 4-0 burst to retake control, leading 22-19. A pair of errors by ECU gave the Storm set point, and Rocha would slam down the final score to win the set for Southeastern 25-21.
SET FOUR
The blue-and-gold built a 5-2 lead behind kills by Forson and Rocha and would keep a four-point edge over the Tigers after back-to-back kills by Forson, 13-9. Southeastern took advantage of three attack errors to stay ahead of the visitors 18-14, forcing an East Central timeout.
Southeastern kept battling and would extend its advantage out of the break to 15-10 after back-to-back blocks. East Central would close the gap on a 4-0 spurt and later would tie the set 22-all after an SE timeout. SE found its footing again and outscored ECU 3-1 in the final four points to claim a 25-23 set victory.
SET FIVE
The momentum stayed on the side of Southeastern to begin the final set, as SE took a 5-1 lead, forcing an ECU timeout. Out of the break, East Central found its footing on a 4-0 burst to tie the set 6-6, and SE would use its first timeout. ECU found all of the momentum from there, taking a 12-8 lead before closing out the set with back-to-back kills
Southeastern will head to Alva on Thursday, Sept. 26, to face Northwestern Oklahoma State at 6 p.m.