Storm Down SWOSU 3-0 for First Win

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern finally saw everything click on Tuesday night on its way to a dominant 3-0 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State to pick up the first win of the season and the first in the newly renovated Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 1-5 on the season and 1-5 in Great American Conference Western Division play, with a rematch against the Bulldogs slated for March 26 in Weatherford, Okla.
 
Skylor Lewis led the Storm on the attack, finishing with a match-high 11 kills, while Aleksandra Rodic was next in line with nine and Jocelyn Grewing added six.
 
Ruthie Forson continued to distribute the ball and fuel the offense, finishing with 30 assists while also adding 11 digs and four kills.
 
Defensively, McKenzie Turkoly led the back row with 24 digs while Grace Shehadeh turned in her third-straight 20-plus dig outing and her fifth our of six matches by adding 22 on Tuesday.
 
Forson and Rodic each added 11 digs, while Lewis finished with nine, with SE holding a 79-to-61 edge in digs as a team.
 
Caroline Griffith collected three blocks, including a solo stop, while Jessie Steele also finished with three, with the team outblocking SWOSU 6.0-to-2.0.
 
The first set was back-and-forth early, with the teams playing to a 10-10 tie.  SWOSU would break that tie with back-to-back points, but the Storm would answer with four-straight and eight of the next 10 to pushy out to an 18-14 advantage.
 
SE would keep the Bulldogs at arm's length from then on, going on to lead 23-18 before taking the set 25-20.
 
The second set saw the Storm reel off the first nine points, led by four kills over that run by Grewing.
 
SWOSU would end the run with a pair of points, but that would be the only time they would score back-to-back in the set.
 
After trading points to an 11-3 SE edge, the Storm would run off five-straight as part of a 9-1 run to open up a massive 20-4 lead.
 
Southeastern would close out the set by taking five of the final eight points for a 25-7 win in the set.
 
That momentum carried into the third set despite the teams playing a back-and-forth game early in the third before SE would push out to a 9-6 advantage.
 
The lead would grow as large as four at 14-10 before a SWOSU run would tie the set at 1514-14, but a Griffith kill would break the tie and the Storm would score four-straight to open up an 18-14 lead.
 
The Bulldogs would close to within two points at 20-18, but Southeastern would close out the set with a 5-1 run to secure the 25-19 win and the 3-0 match victory.