SE Downs ECU in Five-Set Thriller

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern had four hitters in double-figure kills while Caitlin Cosby turned in a season-high 40 digs to power Southeastern to a 3-2 victory over arch-rival East Central in the home Great American Conference opener on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 5-9 overall on the year and brings them back to an even 1-1 in league play with a Sept. 26 home matchup with Southwestern Oklahoma State set for 7 p.m.
 
"For us coming into this match we needed to win," said head coach Brianna Barry. "We had some struggles this past week, and ECU is tough. They are getting a lot better and they're going to be able to push some teams in the conference. But we needed a little confidence booster, and this was the match for us to win. This win means so much to us."
 
"For us," she continued, speaking of the rivalry with ECU, "It is always stressful, since it is our rivalry match. The tensions are high and the emotions are high for us, but we were able to pull though. Obviously going to five was not what we wanted, but we were able to finish this match."
 
The SE offense was paced by Arianna Baker who registered her first 20-kill outing of the season, hitting .310 in the effort while leading all attackers. Jaclyn Menner was next in line with 14 kills, with Abby Jameson at 11 and Caroline Griffith adding 10.
 
In all, the Storm finished with 74 kills as a team over five sets, 19 more than the Tigers.
 
Freshman setter Jodi Dixon settled into her role as setter in her third outing, finishing with 58 assists in the effort while adding a kill, an ace, three blocks and just missed a double-double with nine digs.
 
Cosby paced the defense with a season-best 40 digs which also sets the bar in the GAC this season, while Jameson completed a double-double with 13 digs with Dixon and Kristi Carter turning in nine apiece.
 
Griffith led the net defense with five blocks, while Dixon was next up with three.
 
"Sometimes," said Barry, "We sit back and we let teams come in and beat us, but this time we were really able to take charge and follow through with that. So the girls do well, but we have some things to keep working on. We had five freshmen on the court at one point at the same time, so for that, it was amazing to see the girls step up, and once Al get back were going to be headed right where we want to go."
 
The opening set was back-and-forth with the Storm rallying late to knot the score at 21-21, however the Tigers would take four of the final five points to win the set 25-22 and take a 1-0 lead.
 
The second set featured bonus volleyball as SE first saw a five-point lead disappear to fall behind 22-20 and would eventually face set point at 24-23 before Baker would collect a set tying kill and Jameson would knock down back-to-back kills to win the set 26-24 and event he match at 1-1.
 
The third set also featured bonus points, with SE looking at set point at 25-24 but was unable to put it away and the Tigers would swipe the set 29-27 and take a 2-1 lead.
 
Southeastern reasserted its efforts in the fourth set, opening with an 11-3 run and never looking back en route to a 25-18 win in the set to event he match at 2-2 and force a deciding fifth set.
 
The Storm jumped ahead early and made the turn with an 8-4 lead. However, after going up 10-5, the lead slipped as ECU scored five-straight to knot the set at 10-10.  SE would answer with consecutive kills from Menner, Jameson, Erika Costain and Griffith to go up 14-10 and Costain would finish the match off two points later for a 15-11 win in the set and a 3-2 victory in the match.