Volleyball Rallies But Falls 3-2 at CU

Box Score LAWTON, Okla. – For the second time in a week, Southeastern rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to tie the match, but was unable to complete the comeback in a 3-2 loss at Cameron on Tuesday night in Lawton, Okla.
 
The Savage Storm slips to 4-6 on the season heading into a Thursday night matchup against Oklahoma City at 7 p.m. in Oklahoma City, Okla.
 
SE was paced by Julia Benford who turned in a career night, shattering her previous career high by turning in 21 kills and hitting .526 for the match.
 
Three others reached double-figures in kills, with Megan Kunkel, Emily Gentle and Ariel Sanders each posting 13 kills.
 
Southeastern combined for 71 kills in the match, compared to just 59 from the Aggies.
 
Alissa Benson triggered the offense with 52 assists, her second 50-plus assist match of the season.
 
The Storm racked up 92 digs as a team on the match compared to 86 from CU.
 
Kelsey Zerkel led a group of four players in double-figures with 22 digs, while Kunkel was right behind with 21, followed by Courtney Miller at 19 and Benson at 13.
 
Benford also led the way at the net on defense with four blocks, while Emily Gentle added three.
 
In the opening set Southeastern saw CU open with the first four points and slowly build up a lead as high as seven before a late five-point rally closed the gap, but the Storm fell 25-22.
 
The Aggies used an early five-point run to take control of the second set and pull away for a 25-16 win.
 
The Storm took control early in the third set by jumping to a 5-1 lead, but Cameron would rally and take the lead, pushing ahead by as many as five points.  A 10-2 run by SE regained them the lead and pushed it to 18-15, but the Aggies rallied to tie the game at 20-20.
 
The teams traded points two at a time until SE led 25-24, and after a trading points again found the set tied at 26-26.  SE would wrap up the 28-26 win thanks to a kill from Sanders followed by a Kunkel ace.
 
Southeastern again jumped to an early lead, marching out to a 6-1 advantage in the fourth set and never looked back en route to a 25-14 win to even the match at 2-2.
 
In the deciding set the teams traded points out of the gate until the Storm took a 5-4 lead.
 
That was when the Aggies answered with three-straight to go up 7-5.
 
SE was not finished as a four-point run would turn the tables and put the Storm in front 9-7.
 
However, from that point on CU would outscore the Storm 8-3 to hand SE a 15-12 loss in the deciding set.