BETHANY, Okla. – Southeastern rallied from seven down late in the fourth set to pick up the clinching set victory in a 3-1 win over Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla., to stretch its Great American Conference winning streak to four matches.
Â
The win is the third-straight overall and the fourth-straight in GAC play, improving the Savage Storm record to 11-12 overall and 7-5 in conference play heading into a non-conference contest on Thursday night at 7 p.m. against Austin College in Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium.
Â
"This was a defining match for us," said head coach
Nicole Solum-Mitchell. "To sweep the series was huge. We earned this. I am so proud of the effort and commitment to coming out on top. I also want to recognize both my assistants, they put in a lot of work to make sure we were prepared for every scenario. Moving forward we need to focus on limiting our errors to handle things faster."
Â
SE sweeps the season series against the Crimson Storm for the first time since SNU joined the conference in 2012.
Â
D'Nari Mills led all attackers in the match with 19 kills, while
Noelia Rocha was next in line with 12.
Â
Sandra Acheampong and
Ruthie Forson each added eight kills, with
Michera Moffett chipping in six kills and
Faith Kruebbe added five.
Â
Forson drove the offense with 43 assists in addition to her eight kills, while adding nine digs and one block.
Â
Defensively,
Amaya Constantino posted a team-best 16 digs, with
Peyton Kriegel adding 14 and Kruebbe chipping in 10.
Â
At the net, Acheampong added five total blocks, two of them solo, with Kruebbe adding three.
Â
SE would use a 4-0 run in the first set to take a lead mid-set and not look back en route to a 25-21 win and a 1-0 lead.
Â
The Storm would take a lead early in the second set, but a 7-1 run by SNU would even the set and after two more ties the home team would pull out to a 25-20 win to tie the match at 1-1.
Â
The theme continued in the third set as the teams would play much of the set evenly, tying the score 13 times, the last time at 20-20 before SE used a 5-1 run to win the set 25-1 to take a 2-1 lead.
Â
SNU looked to take control of the fourth set, leading 21-14 before the Storm closed the set on a 13-4 run to erase the seven point deficit and pick up the 27-25 win to secure the 3-1 victory. Â
Â
Â
Â