Storm Tripped up By ECU at Home

DURANT, Okla. – Errors proved costly as the Southeastern offense had a hard time getting traction on Tuesday night in a 3-0 loss to rival East Central in Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 5-6 overall and 2-2 in Great American Conference play with the team next in action on the road against Oklahoma Baptist on Sept. 30 in Shawnee, Okla.
 
Skylor Lewis paced the Southeastern offense with nine kills and Jessie Steele added seven in the effort.
 
However, the Storm would suffer 24 errors as a team, supplying ECU with nearly one-third of their points on the night.
 
Ruthie Forson would finish the contest with 29 assists while adding three kills, three digs and a block.
 
Grace Shehadeh led all defenders along the back row with 24 digs, while Lewis added eight.
 
Malaysia Burns and Jadyn James each logged three blocks, while Lewis, Mya Afflerbach and Caroline Griffith had two apiece.
 
In the first set the Tigers would break a 5-5 tie and use a 12-4 run to go ahead 17-9 before taking the set 25-14.  Steele would connect on five of her kills in the set, but the Storm would get outhit .429-to-.056.
 
In the second set it was a 7-0 ECU start that provided early separation that SE was never able to rally from in a 25-18 loss to fall behind 2-0.
 
The early run trend continued for the T9igers in set three, taking an early 10-2 lead. The lead would reach as many as 10 points before a late push would allow the Storm to shrink it to six points first at 21-15 and again at 23-17, but that was as close as they would get as ECU took the final set 25-18.