SE Snaps Skid with 3-0 win over SAU

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern volleyball snapped its losing skid and got into the Great American Conference win column with a 3-0 victory over Southern Arkansas on Friday evening in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 2-19 overall on the year and 1-9 in GAC play heading into a short-turnaround matchup with Arkansas-Monticello at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
Caroline Griffith and Aleksandra Rodic led the SE offense with 12 kills each, while Hannah Grant was one shy of double-figures with nine.
 
Paige Hawkins had her longest appearance of the season and added six kills while McKenzie Turkoly chipped in five.
 
Arabella Bouchard handed out 37 assists on the night while adding a kill, a service ace, and nine digs.
 
Defensively Caitlin Cosby turned in a match-high 16 digs and lifted her career mark to 2,265 digs, 94 digs shy of second place on the GAC career digs list.
 
Grace Shehadeh and Sydney Meget joined her in double-figures with 11 and 10 digs, respectively.
 
Hawkins led the way at the net with three blocks, while Griffith and Turkoly added two apiece.
 
Set one was back-and-forth early before the Storm used a 5-0 run to take a 12-7 lead.
 
SAU would answer with a 5-0 run of its own to tie the score, but SE would reel off another run, this one a 6-1 run to open up a 23-19 lead before pulling out the 25-22 win in set one.
 
SE played from behind early, digging out of a 10-5 hole and eventually tying the set at 13-13.
 
The Muleriders would jump back ahead at 19-17, but the Storm answered with a 7-2 run to take a 240-21 lead.
 
SAU would rally with four-straight points and were serving with set point before a Bouchard surprise kill triggered three-straight points, capped by a set-winning Griffith kill to win the set 27-25 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The teams traded short runs for much of the third set, with SE eventually taking a 14-12 lead on a Grant kill.
 
That was part of a 4-1 run that put SE up three points, and while SAU would rally to cut the gap to one point twice, the Storm would score the final three points of the match to win the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.