DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern squared off with Oklahoma Christian for the second time this season on Tuesday night, and forced extra sets before falling 3-1 to the Eagles in Bloomer Sullivan Gym.
Alexis Williams had the hot hand for the SE attack, slamming down a career-high 13 kills on a .500 attack average, and would also chip in 4.0 total blocks.
Noelia Rocha tallied 11 kills, while
Riley McFarland and
Jasmin Dion facilitated the attack with 20 and 16 assists, respectively. McFarland added 19 digs to her totals for her first double-double this season, and
Gabby Jones would also see a double-double with 12 digs and 11 kills.
Southeastern (6-10, 1-4 GAC) travels to the Natural State for a pair of GAC matches later this week, starting with Southern Arkansas on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m.
SET ONE
SE and OC were locked at 4-all to start the first set and were later tied 6-6 before a burst of points for the Eagles pushed them ahead 12-7. The Storm rattled off a run of scores to cut into the gap, but an 8-1 run by the visitors stretched their advantage to 23-13. OC remained in control for a 25-15 set win.
SET TWO
The blue and gold trailed Oklahoma Christian 7-3 at the start and soon were behind 14-6 after a 5-0 burst from the Eagles. SE used a pair of 3-0 runs that included kills from Jones and Rocha to shorten OC's edge to six, but OC would soon pick up the pace again to close out the frame, scoring five of the final six points to take the second set 25-15.
SET THREE
Oklahoma Christian opened the scoring and would see its lead grow to 6-3 over the next rallies. Three kills from Williams helped SE close the gap on the visitors, and moments later, a kill from Jones and a service ace by Kylee Jones kept the Storm within one, 13-12. Southeastern eventually found its first lead of the set through Rocha, who capped off a 3-0 run with a kill, and the blue and gold added to their lead with another 3-0 burst, 19-17.
SE stayed on the foot, as Rocha and McFarland added to the Storm's lead with kills to set back-to-back kills from Williams that would give Southeastern a 25-21 set win.
SET FOUR
The Eagles carried the early momentum, jumping out to a 6-1 lead, but the Storm battled back through three consecutive kills to slash the gap in half, 10-7. SE soon began to heat up, rattling off eight of the next ten points, including three kills by Rocha to take the lead 15-14. However, OC was quick with its reply, building a 6-0 run to flip the advantage back in its favor 20-15.
Southeastern continued to battle, cutting the gap back to one after a pair of
Maci Morrison kills and Eagles attack errors, 22-21. Despite the late pressure from Southeastern, OC held off the blue and gold's late charge to earn a 25-21 win.
