Alva Review-Courier -

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern opened the 2017 season and the South Central Classic with a dominant 3-0 win over Minnesota-Crookston on Friday, but was forced to take a split in day one action with a 3-0 loss to Central Missouri in the late game at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

The split moves the Savage Storm to 1-1 on the year with a noon matchup with Texas A&M-International followed by a 7 p.m. contest with Dallas Baptist to close out the weekend.

In the opener Southeastern hit .311 as a team with Arianna Baker leading the way with a 14 kill effort, finishing 14-of-20 with no errors and hitting .700 for the match. Abby Jameson added 12 kills and hit .320, while Erika Costain finished with nine.

Alissa Benson dished out a match-best 38 assists to trigger the offense while adding four kills, a block and a pair of digs.

Baker also paced the defense at the net with four blocks, while Jameson added three with Taylor Robinson and Caroline Griffith posting two each.

Caitlin Cosby led the back row defense with 19 digs in the three set match to lead all defenders.

The Storm found itself in a back-and-forth contest in the opening set, but picked up the 26-24 win thanks to a Baker kill and a MCU error to end the set.

SE jumped out to a 6-1 lead in set two and never trailed, eventually closing out the match on an 8-1 run to win 25-13 and take a 2-0 lead.

The third set was give and take early but a 9-3 run would push the Storm lead to 16-9 en route to a 25-18 victory in the set and a 3-0 match win.

In the nightcap Jameson posted a match-high 15 kills, but was SE's only player to reach double figures in kills, with Baker adding eight and Robinson seven.

Benson dished out 41 assists and added five digs and a block.

Defensively Cosby posted 17 digs to lead the way, while Baker and Benson each had a block.

The Storm dropped the first set 25-19, but rallied to send the second set into extra points before ultimately falling 27-25. The Jennies would snag the third set 25-15 and hand the Storm a 3-0 loss.