Benson Sets GAC Career Mark in Win

DURANT, Okla. – Alissa Benson became the Great American Conference's all-time career assists leader and Southeastern picked up its sixth-straight win with a 3-1 victory over Southern Nazarene on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 12-17 overall and 7-7 in GAC play, moving them into a three-way tie for sixth place with SNU and Southwestern Oklahoma State.  The sixth-straight win is also the second-longest winning streak in the conference.
 
Benson came into the match needing 13 assists to tie the conference record and got her 14^th in the second set, passing Arkansas Tech's Amber Cerillos for the top spot on the league's career list.
 
She would go on to finish the night with 37 assists to be the first GAC setter to surpass the 4,000 assist mark and now sits at 4,006 for her career.
 
"It's incredible," said head coach Brianna Barry of her setter's accomplishment. "Alissa has been a stud ever since her freshman year. Coming in and taking over is hard because all the pressure is on her. For her to get that accomplishment is awesome, and a lot of it goes to her teammates. They give her the passes, but she is an incredible athlete and an incredible person as a whole. She did amazing things tonight and she will continue as our run goes, hopefully.
 
"We knew Southern Nazarene was a good team," said Barry about the victory. "We played them at their place and just made too many mistakes to come out with a win. Going up 2-0 in the beginning was awesome, then we got a little too comfortable. The girls fought back. Southern Nazarene is a team if you give them an inch, then they will take a mile."
 
Benson added a perfect four kills on four attempts, while on defense she chipped in with 13 digs and three blocks.
 
Arianna Baker and Abby Jameson paced the offense with 12 kills each, while Erika Costain added nine and Hallie Smith pitched in seven.
 
Defensively, Caitlin Cosby led the way on the back row with 15 digs and added a team-high three aces, while Grace Shehadeh added 14 digs followed by Benson's 13.
 
Baker led all defenders at the net with seven blocks, while Smith added four with Benson and Jameson turning in three each.
 
In the first set after SNU would rally to knot the score at 17-17, Jaclyn Menner would get a kill to trigger a 4-0 run to jump ahead 21-17 as part of taking eight of the last 11 points to win the set 25-20.
 
SE controlled much of the second set, taking two points for every one of the Crimson Storm's, with the visiting team rallying to tie the match at 19-19 before the Savage Storm again finished with a flurry, taking six of the last eight points for a 25-21 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
SNU would snag the third set, erasing a late 22-21 lead and scoring the final four points to take the set 25-22 and narrow the SE lead to 2-1.
 
The Storm fell behind 5-1 early in the fourth set, and trailed 15-11 before mounting a huge rally and taking 14 of the final 20 points to win the clinching set 25-21 and take the match 3-1.