Storm Drops Five-Set Road Match at SWOSU

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southeastern saw its winning streak ended at three games, falling 3-2 at Southwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday night in Weatherford, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 11-9 overall on the season and 5-3 in Great American Conference play heading into a three-games in two days weekend where SE will take on Henderson State in a conference matchup at 4 p.m. on Oct. 17 in Arkadelphia, Ark., followed by a matchup with Alabama-Huntsville at 6 p.m.  The Storm will follow that with an Oct. 18 non-conference contest against Ouachita Baptist at 10 a.m.
 
Tuesday's match tied for the league-lead in five-set matches played this season with six with Southeastern compiling a 3-3 record in those matches.
 
The Storm put four players in double-digits in kills led by Megan Kunkel's 14, while Emily Gentle and Julia Benford each added 11 and Ariel Sanders chipped in 10.
 
Alissa Benson triggered the offense with a match-best 49 assists, while completing a double-double with 17 digs and chipping in five kills and three blocks.
 
On defense a total of five players turned in double-digit digs, led by the 24 of Gentle with Kelsey Zerkel adding 22.  Benson and Courtney Miller each added 17 digs, while Kunkel chipped in 15 as the team posted 104 for the match.
 
The Storm combined for 11 blocks as a team, led by six each from Benford and Gentle.
 
Southeastern opened the match with a 25-23 win in the first set for a 1-0 lead, but the Bulldogs evened the match with a 25-22 win in the second set.
 
The home team pushed its advantage to 2-1 with a 25-18 win in the third set, but the Storm fought back and evened the score at 2-2 with a 25-16 win in the fourth set.
 
SWOSU jumped out to a 6-3 lead early in the fifth set, but SE rebounded and knotted the match at 10-10.
 
However, the Bulldogs would outscore the Storm 5-1 from that point on to take the fifth set 15-11.