HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Southern Nazarene earned its first trip to the Great American Conference Volleyball Championships title contest as the second-seeded Crimson Storm registered a three-set victory against third-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma State in Friday’s opening semifinal match from the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
After an opening 17 points that featured six ties, Southern Nazarene (22-9) seized control of the first set as the Crimson Storm rattled off 11 consecutive points. Emilee Crawford totaled three kills and during the run and the Crimson Strom took advantage of four Southeastern (18-14) errors. For the set, SNU hit .351 as compared to Southeastern’s -.021.
SNU-SE BOX SCORE || PHOTO GALLERY
The second set looked as if it would follow a similar script to the first set as SNU raced out to a 20-8 lead. Down 23-14, the Savage Storm rallied with eight consecutive points to pull to within one at 23-22. They could not complete the rally as the Crimson won the final two points for a 25-22 set victory. In the final set, the Crimson Storm again started fast and took a 7-1 lead. The Savage Storm fought back drew as close as 19-18 but could never draw even.
GAC Player of the Year Taylor Jacobs set a GAC Volleyball Championships match record with eight blocks. As a team, the Crimson Storm totaled 14 blocks. She added 11 digs. Abbey Bell recorded a match-high 24 digs. In two GAC Championship contests, she has averaged 7.33 digs per set.
Megan Kunkel collected nine kills and Kelsey Zerkel contributed 20 digs to lead the Savage Storm.
The Crimson Storm will play for their first GAC Volleyball Tournament Championship crown when they take on the winner of Harding and Arkansas Tech at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Either The Lady Bisons or the Golden Suns have won the previous three GAC Tournament crowns. In the regular season, SNU handed Arkansas Tech its lone GAC loss, but the Crimson Storm dropped a three-set match to Harding. The GAC Sports Network will stream the match at
GACSportsNetwork.com.