Storm Drop Five-Set Heartbreaker on Senior Night

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern stormed out to a 2-0 lead to open the match against rival East Central on Tuesday night, but saw its momentum slip away as the tigers would take the final three sets to hand the Savage Storm a 3-2 loss on Senior Night in Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 1-8 on the year with the teams slated to close out the regular season with a rematch in Ada, Okla. on Friday night at 7 p.m.
 
Southeastern celebrated senior night for a foursome of players closing out their final years as Paige Hawkins, Caroline Griffith, Aleksandra Rodic, and Grace Shehadeh were all honored before the match.
 
The Storm took the opening set 25-21 and was dominant in set two with a 25-13 win to go up 2-0.
 
However, ECU eked out a 25-23 win in set three and took set four 25-15 to force a deciding set.
 
SE battled, but the Tigers would take the final set 18-16 to win the match.
 
Griffith paced the Storm on offense with 13 kills, while Ruthie Forson added 11.
 
Skylor Lewis finished just shy of double-figures with eight, while Rodic was next up with seven.
 
Forson was busy as she handed out 32 assists in addition to her 11 kills, while also chipping in two service ace, as well as six digs and a block on defense.
 
Shehadeh led the way across the back row defense with 18 digs, while McKenzie Turkoly was right behind with 17.
 
SE had a big night blocking, posting 12.0 team blocks, with Jocelyn Grewing posting six, including a pair of solo blocks. Griffith was right behind with five, including one solo.
 
Then teams fought neck=-and-neck in the first set, playing to five ties by the time the match reached 10-10.
 
SE would eventually use a run to jump out 17-14 on an ECU error, but the Tigers bounced back and opened up a 21-18 lead.
 
Southeastern would come flying back, scoring the last seven points of the set to take it 25-21.
 
The second set had a similar start, but a 4-0 run from a 6-6 tie would put the Storm up 10-6.
 
The lead would hit 15-8 on a Griffith kill and a late 7-0 run would put the set away as the Storm won it 25-13 to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Southeastern found itself playing catch up in the third set, trailing by four before closing the gap to just one point at 15-14.
 
The deficit would yo-yo again out to 20-15, but the Storm reeled off eight of the next 12 points to close to 24-23, but ECU would take the final point and cut the SE lead to 2-1.
 
A 9-1 run early in the fourth set would put ECU ahead 14-7 and the Storm were unable to get any momentum built up for a rally in the set, falling 25-15 to event he match at 2-2.
 
In the deciding set, ECU took the lead early and was the first to 10 points, but the Storm would rally and knot the match at 10-10 on a Griffith and Rodic block.
 
ECU would push out again, serving for match point at 14-12, but the Storm would survive and eventually serve for their own match point at 16-15.
 
But the Tigers would have an answer as well, scoring the final three points to take the set 18-16 and the match 3-2.