SE Drops Hard Fought Matches on Day One

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern got off to a rough start at the South Central Classic on Friday with a pair of losses in Bloomer Sullivan Arena, first falling to Fort Hays State 3-0 before going five sets in the nightcap with William Jewell before ultimately coming out on the wrong end of a 3-2 score.
 
Day two of the event continues on Saturday, Sept. 12, with matches at noon, 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
SE opens the day at 2 p.m. against Texas A&M-Commerce and closes the event at 7 p.m. against Oklahoma Panhandle State.
 
In the opener the Storm dropped set one 25-16, followed by a 25-17 loss and a 25-23 loss.
 
SE jumped to an early lead against WJC with set wins of 25-18 and 25-19 before the Cardinals evened the match with 25-17 and 25-20 wins.  SE would rally in the final set to send it to extra points before the visitors would pull ahead with a 22-20 win in the deciding set.
 
In the final match of the day Abby Jameson turned in a career-high 26 kills while hitting .333 on 60 attempts.  Her 26 kills is the most by a Storm player since Lunden Azuara turned in 26 against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Oct. 25, 2011.
 
Julia Benford chipped in 15 kills in the effort, while Erika Costain added 10.  Benford hit over .300 as well.
 
Alissa Benson triggered the offense with a season-high 49 assists while completing the double-double with 12 digs and adding a pair of blocks.
 
The season-high trend continued on defense where Charlene Nerio turned in a season-best 24 digs, while Costain completed a do9uble-double by adding 14 digs.  Caitlyn Mills turned in 14 digs as well, while Benson added her 12.
 
Costain and Benford each turned in four blocks in the match to lead the offense at the net, while Arianna Baker chipped in three.
 
As a team the Storm outblocked WJC 8.0-to-6.0.
 
In the first set the Storm used an 8-0 run to take control of the set and would pull away for the 25-18 win.
 
In the second set it was a 7-1 run that gave them control and allowed them to pull away for a 25-19 win.
 
The third set was a back-and-forth affair with the teams eventually knotting at 17-17 before WJC closed the set with the final eight points to win 25-17.
 
A 10-3 start to the fourth set put them in early control but the Storm recovered and tied the set at 20-20, but the Cardinals scored the final five points to take the set 25-20 and event he match at 2-2.
 
After scoring the first two points of the fifth set, SE allowed WJC to reel off six-straight and played from behind before holding off a pair of match points to tie the game at 14-14.  The Storm would survive two more match points, but was unable to take advantage of three of its own before the Cardinals scored the final three points and took the deciding set 22-20.
 
In the opening match against FHSU, Benford led the charge with seven kills, while Baker and Jameson added six each.
 
Benson dished out 25 assists in the match and added nine digs and three blocks in the effort.
 
Nerio led the way with 18 digs, while Benford and Benson led the net defense with three blocks each.
 
The Storm gave up big runs in each of the first two sets to the Tigers to fall behind 2-0.
 
In the third set, Se played from behind much of the way, but rallied to take a 15-14 lead, holding its edge until a 3-0 run by FHSU gave them a 22-20 edge before holding off SE in a 25-23 win in the clenching set.