Volleyball Closes Home Stand With SNU

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern will look to close its three-match home stand by building on the momentum picked up by its win over Harding when it hosts Southern Nazarene, another team at the top of the conference standings, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night in Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
 
The Savage Storm come into the matchup with a 9-8 record overall and a 3-2 mark in Great American Conference play following its 3-1 victory over Harding on Saturday, the first win over the Bisons in program history.
 
In addition to the milestone win, the Storm have won four of their last five outings, with the lone loss in that span coming to Arkansas Tech by a 3-1 score.
 
The two teams split in 2013, with SNU taking a 3-1 decision in Bethany, Okla., while Southeastern defensed its home court with a 3-0 win.
 
Tuesday's matchup is also important as it sets the stage for a six-match road swing which begins on Thursday with a 7 p.m. contest in Ada, Okla., against rival East Central.
 
Southeastern stepped up its play in the last week, boosting its kills average to 13.08 per set over the last three matches, but made its real progress in the serve/receive game and on defense.
 
The Storm served up 24 aces over three matches and were hit with 14 errors, while opponents collected just nine aces off of SE and committed 19 errors.
 
Southeastern had a pair of players average more than three digs per set, but were paced on the back row by Kelsey Zerkel's 4.00 dps over that span.
 
However, the big defensive improvement came at the net where the team averaged 2.0 blocks per set as a team, with Ariel Sanders posting 13 stops, Emily Gentle adding 12, Julia Benford stopping 10 and Alissa Benson turning in nine blocks.
 
The numbers lifted the season tallies, with four players averaging 2.00 kills per set or higher, led by Megan Kunkel at 2.97, followed by Gentle at 2.85, Benford at 2.22 and Courtney Miller at 2.00.
 
Benson is triggering the offense with 8.13 assists per set while sharing time with Madelynne Cera who is turning in 4.61 aps.
 
Zerkel's 3.89 digs per set leads the team on the back row, while Megan Kunkel is at 3.05 per set on the year.
 
Sanders pushed her season block total to 49 after a big week, while that same week also allowed Gentle to lift her blocks to 47 and Benford to 44.
 
The Crimson Storm comes to town with a 12-4 mark on the season overall and a 5-1 record in GAC play, with its lone loss coming in a 3-0 defeat at Harding.
 
SNU is on a three-match winning streak and has won five of its last six.
 
Taylor Jacobs paces the Crimson Storm offense with 3.56 kills per set, while Emilee Crawford is at 2.18 per set. Kaylee Piatt handles the setting duties to the tune of 9.91 assists per set.
 
Defensively, Abbey Bell is picking up 4.64 digs per set, while Jacobs has a team-best 73 blocks on the year.