MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Lady Muleriders suffered a tough loss with their third consecutive match against a GAC top five ranked opponent in a three-set defeat to Southern Nazarene (15-25, 22-25, 18-25) on Saturday.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• For the past three matches, the Lady Muleriders have faced three of the top-five teams in the conference with today's opponent, Southern Nazarene, currently sitting at No. 5 in the conference standings coming into the week.
• SNU, which holds several players owning the league's-best top ten statistics in various categories, lived up to their rankings outhitting Southern Arkansas .263 to .074 with 47 total kills.
• Alexia Southern and Alli O'Banion paced the offense for SAU as they combined for 15 total kills, Southern contributing eight.
• The Crimson Storm commanded the first set as they produced a .256 attack clip with a match-high 17 kills against SAU resulting in 25-15 final decision, SNU.
• Despite dropping the second set, Southern Arkansas retaliated with a strong start, entailing their largest-lead of 12-6, aided by six kills and a service ace.
• In that set, SNU would make a run to come within a single point deficit of SAU, 12-11, before O'Banion answered with back-to-back kills to extend the Lady Mulerider lead out to 14-11.
• Three kills in a 4-0 run allowed SNU to gain the lead, 15-14, following an O'Banion-Southern duo of kills that let SAU reclaim the lead, 16-15. SNU subsequently influenced another lead change with a 6-2 run that resulted in a 21-18 advantage, and SAU would tie the score twice after that before the Crimson Storm eventually declared the victory, 25-22, and carried that momentum to sweep the match, 3-0.

 
UP NEXT

• The Lady Muleriders look to bounce back with a non-conference match on their home court against Central Baptist College on Tuesday at 6 p.m.