Southeastern Wins Four Set Battle at Austin College

SHERMAN, TEXAS – After trading the first two sets, Southeastern Oklahoma State took the next two frames, including a 26-24 set three to defeat Austin College 3-1 inside the Hughey Gym.  
 
D'Nari Mills notched another double-double, leading the attack with 19 kills and adding another 17 digs to her totals. Noelia Rocha slammed down 12 kills, while Ruthie Forson dished out 38 assists on the night. Patience Lewis led the back row with 25 digs, and Michera Moffett and Maci Morrison combined for 5.0 total blocks.
 
SET ONE
Southeastern and Austin College were locked at 6-all and 10-all to begin the opening set. The Kangaroos soon found a breakthrough on a 4-0 burst to take the lead, but the Storm replied with a flurry of points of their own, putting together a 5-1 run to recapture the lead 20-19. The two sides battled back and forth in the final eight points, with four ties before SE found the decisive final two points from kills by Mills and Moffett to give Southeastern the set win 25-23.
 
SET TWO
The Kangaroos jumped out to an early 5-1 lead over the Storm before SE went ahead for the first time following a pair of kills by Rocha and two more from Mills and Moffett to give Southeastern a 9-8 edge. Little separated in the following exchanges, as the frame saw six ties before Austin College took an 18-15 lead. The Kangaroos refused to give their advantage, taking the second frame 25-19.
 
SET THREE
Once again, Southeastern found themselves trailing AC 4-1 at the start of the set. A kill by Mills and another two from Rocha trimmed the gap to two, but another burst of points from the hosts extended Austin College's advantage to 14-7. The Kangaroos stayed on the front foot, taking a 22-17 lead and forcing a timeout from Southeastern.
 
SE soon found its rhythm out of the break with a 4-1 burst to cut the gap to two, and this time, AC used one of its timeouts. However, that did not slow down the Storm, as three straight aces by Faith Kruebbe gave the blue-and-gold a 24-23 advantage, and SE would go on to win the set 26-24 after an attack error by the hosts.
 
SET FOUR
After two slow starts in the second and third frame, the Storm found themselves ahead 7-3 after three kills by Mills. Austin College roared back on a 5-0 burst to tie the set 10-all before SE grabbed the lead again on a 4-0 stretch. Once again, AC tied the frame 16-all on a flurry of points and kept the set tied at 19-all on a 3-0 burst.
 
The Storm broke the deadlock with a kill by Moffett and a block by Rocha and Alexis Williams and soon had set point after kill by Rocha, and moments later, Mills would slam down the final kill of the match to give Southeastern a 25-23 set win.  

Southeastern (6-9, 2-3) returns home for a pair of GAC matches, beginning with Harding on Friday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Bloomer Sullivan Gym.