BETHANY, Okla. – SWOSU Volleyball traveled to Southern Nazarene on Thursday for more GAC action but came away with the first conference loss of the young season, 3-2.
 
The Bulldogs fell behind 2-0 in the match and clawed all the way back to force a final frame but could not pull off the comeback. SWOSU moves to 2-1 in conference play.
 
The first set was close but saw SNU in control for much of the way. The Dawgs inched their way back through the mid to late points and had the score tied at 23-23 before the Crimson Storm nailed the set away for good with two straight points to end it.
 
SNU kept things going in the next set and established themselves early by scoring the first eight points of the new frame. SWOSU never managed to recover from there and lost it decisively, 25-11.
 
With their backs against the wall, the Dawgs responded in the third. The two teams played the back-and-forth game until 18-17. From there, it was SWOSU who found their groove by scoring five of the next six points which ended up being the difference maker.
 
In the fourth, SNU led early but SWOSU led late. Tied 18-18, the Dawgs scored seven of the final 10 points to win it.
 
To the fifth they went, but things did not go how SWOSU envisioned. Though the final score was a close 15-12, the visiting Bulldogs played from behind from the jump and never led.
 
In the two sets SWOSU won, they hit .260 as a team.  Lacy Mott and Maicee Morgan led the offense with 22 combined kills in those two frames. Mott finished with 21 kills and 12 digs for the match, while Morgan notched 12 kills.

In the three sets SWOSU lost, their hitting totals dropped significantly. The Dawgs averaged .049 through those three sets, which included a negative second frame. (-.077)
 
On defense, Samantha Kuzma had her hand in six successful blocks – a team high.
 
SWOSU (5-7, 2-1 GAC) will travel to Oklahoma Baptist next Tuesday. First serve for that match is scheduled for 7pm.