Alva Review-Courier -

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.