ADA, Okla. – Errors proved costly as Southeastern closed out the regular season schedule with a 3-0 road loss to rival East Central on Thursday night in Ada, Okla.
 
The loss dropped the Savage Storm to 8-18 overall and 5-11 in Great American Conference play.
 
SE's loss coupled with a Thursday night loss by Southern Nazarene now means that both teams will have to await the result of Northwestern Oklahoma State's matchup against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday night to settle the final two spots in the postseason tournament lineup.
 
Mya Afflerbach led the Storm offense with eight kills while Caroline Griffith was next up with seven. Madison Martinez chipped in five.
 
SE's offense finished with 28 kills, well withing striking distance of the Tigers' 35, but found momentum hard to come by as they were bitten by 29 errors.
 
Ruthie Forson dished out 25 assists and added a pair of kills from the setter position to help push the offense.
 
Defensively, McKenzie Turkoly posted a team-high 12 digs while Grace Shehadeh was right behind with 11.
 
Afflerbach led the net defense with three blocks, while Malaysia Burns and Jadyn James added two each.
 
Afflerbach and Griffith posted three kills each in the opening set and SE jumped to an early lead and was able to tie the match up at its midway point, but the Tigers closed out with four of the final six points to take the set 25-20.
 
After a slow start in the second set SE would rally to knot the score at 12-12, but ECU would take the next seven points to pull ahead and take set two 25-17.
 
The Tigers opened with the first five points of the third set and left SE playing catchup for the entire set.  The Storm would close to within four points but were unable to close out a rally, dropping the final set 25-17.