SE Athletics
BETHANY – Southeastern rallied from seven down late in the fourth set to pick up the clinching set victory in a 3-1 win over Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla., to stretch its Great American Conference winning streak to four matches.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The win is the third-straight overall and the fourth-straight in GAC play, improving the Savage Storm record to 11-12 overall and 7-5 in conference play heading into a non-conference contest on Thursday night at 7 p.m. against Austin College in Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
“This was a defining match for us,” said head coach Nicole Solum-Mitchell. “To sweep the series was huge. We earned this. I am so proud of the effort and commitment to coming out on top. I also want to recognize both my assistants, they put in a lot of work to make sure we were prepared for every scenario. Moving forward we need to focus on limiting our errors to handle things faster.”
SE sweeps the season series against the Crimson Storm for the first time since SNU joined the conference in 2012.
D’Nari Mills led all attackers in the match with 19 kills, while Noelia Rocha was next in line with 12.
Sandra Acheampong and Ruthie Forson each added eight kills, with Michera Moffett chipping in six kills and Faith Kruebbe added five.
Forson drove the offense with 43 assists in addition to her eight kills, while adding nine digs and one block.
Defensively, Amaya Constantino posted a team-best 16 digs, with Peyton Kriegel adding 14 and Kruebbe chipping in 10.
At the net, Acheampong added five total blocks, two of them solo, with Kruebbe adding three.
SE would use a 4-0 run in the first set to take a lead mid-set and not look back en route to a 25-21 win and a 1-0 lead.
The Storm would take a lead early in the second set, but a 7-1 run by SNU would even the set and after two more ties the home team would pull out to a 25-20 win to tie the match at 1-1.
The theme continued in the third set as the teams would play much of the set evenly, tying the score 13 times, the last time at 20-20 before SE used a 5-1 run to win the set 25-1 to take a 2-1 lead.
SNU looked to take control of the fourth set, leading 21-14 before the Storm closed the set on a 13-4 run to erase the seven point deficit and pick up the 27-25 win to secure the 3-1 victory.