BETHANY, Okla. – Golden Suns battled the Crimson Storm in a tough five-set match where Southern Nazarene was able to take the game 3-2. The Suns remain tied for second in the conference with a 4-2 record.
Set one began with the Suns earning their first point after a bad set from the Crimson Storm. After an attack by the Storm, they tied 1-1. Through a service ace by the Sun's Karis Brinlee and an attack error by the Storm, the teams were tied 2-2. The Storm were able to take the lead from there on. They created a seven-point gap by mid-set where they led 16-9. Scoring was tossed back-and-forth but the Storm ultimately took set one 25-17.
The Suns gained early momentum in set two and led at 7-2 after a couple kills by Henley Hooks and Madison Crum, plus two service aces by Kylie Lambert. The Crimson Storm had a three-point run to catch up but another kill by Crum and Savannah Meyer gave the Suns a 9-5 lead. The teams were tied at 11-11 and the Storm halted the Suns' lead. The Suns tied the score at 15-15 and the teams kept it within a four-point range where they tied once more at 21-21. Erika Hernandez provided one more attack for the Suns, but the Storm were able to finish the set on a four-point run to take set two 25-22.
A service by Kenzie Garret and a block by Hooks and Juliana Borchers gave the Suns a 2-0 lead for set three. The score rallied until the teams tied at 7-7. Kills by Hernandez and Meyer and blocks by Borchers and Meyer allowed the Suns an 11-7 lead. The Crimson Storm were able to close off the score gap at 11-10, but a couple of Southern Nazarene attack errors and Tech kills had the Suns leading by 20-18. The Storm tied the score at 20-20, but multiple kills by Meyer, Hooks and Crum including another block by Borchers and Crum enabled the Suns to earn set three 25-22.
The energy was brought to set four where the Storm were heavily halted by the Suns. Tech led 2-0 but Southern Nazarene tied it 2-2. The Suns steered a lead up to 10-6. Back-to-back attacks by Meyer and Hooks created a score gap by seven-points. They were able to go on another four-point run to widen the gap by 10-points and led 17-7. Though a bad set by the Suns contributed to the Storm getting a double-digit score, the Suns prevailed and multiple kills and blocks by Crum and Hernandez provided the Suns set four 25-12.
Tech was able to force Southern Nazarene to gain a negative attack percentage. The Suns saw their highest attack percentage of the match in set four at .387 with 15 kills, three errors and 31 total attacks.
By set five, the teams had a hard rally where the score difference was no larger than two-points until mid-set. The Storm's Makenzie Moseley and Kate Wright delivered a five-point run to lead 11-8. Eventually, the set was tied 14-14 until a challenge call by the Storm took back the Suns' point to give Southern Nazarene the game. Set five finished 15-13.
A long and hard-fought match allowed three Golden Sun to earn a double-double. Savannah Meyer led in kills earning 23 and totaled 19 digs; Henley Hooks earned 13 kills and 15 digs; and Kenzie Garrett led in assists at 46 and earned 13 digs. Libero for the match was Samantha Wojtowicz and was the leader in digs totaling 21.
UP NEXT
The Suns head to Shawnee to play Oklahoma Baptist, the current number one team in the conference. First serve is set for 4 p.m. Live video and live stats will be provided, and video coverage will be a pay-per-view stream.
