SE Evens GAC Record with Win at SAU

Box Score MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southeastern got double-digit kill totals from Julia Benford and Megan Kunkel as the Savage Storm recovered form a first set loss to sweep the next three sets at Southern Arkansas, picking up a 3-1 win on Friday night in Magnolia, Ark.
 
The win lifts SE to 6-7 overall on the season and evens their Great American Conference mark at 1-1 heading into a noon matchup with Arkansas-Monticello who topped East Central 3-0 on Friday.
 
Benford paced the cub with 12 kills, hitting .391 for the match, while Kunkel was right behind with 11 kills.
 
Courtney Miller just missed a double-digit kill outing with nine, while Emily Gentle and Ariel Sanders each added eight.
 
Alissa Benson dished out 26 assists in the match and added a block, while Madelynne Cera chipped in 15 assists and eight digs.
 
Southeastern racked up 10 blocks as a team, with Gentle leading the way with six, while Sanders added five and Benford turned in four.
 
Kelsey Zerkel led the back row defense with 19 digs, while Kunkel turned in the double-double with 10 digs.
 
In the first set, SE gave up the first three points, but would pull out an early 5-0 run to take an 8-6 lead.
 
Just a few points later, SAU would turn in a six point run to take a 14-10 lead and pull out a 25-19 win in the first set.
 
The second set was back and forth, but the Storm took advantage of a 5-0 run as well as two three-point runs to build a lead and hold off the Muleriders for the 25-21 win to even the match at 1-1.
 
SE fell behind early in the third set, but a six point run would turn a two-point deficit into a three-point lead.
 
That lead would grow to five before a 6-0 run by SAU tied the match at 21-21, but the Storm would score four of the set's last five points to win 25-22 and take a 2-1 lead.
 
In the fourth set the teams fought to an early 9-9 tie before a four point run gave SE a lead it would not relinquish.
 
The lead would grow to three points, but the Muleriders would close it to one point four times before knotting the score at 20-20.
 
Southeastern would score five of the next seven points to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.