BETHANY, Okla. – It took five close sets for the Lady Bisons to get the job done Friday. The Harding volleyball team defeated Southern Nazarene 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 15-10) in Great American Conference action.

The Lady Bisons remain perfect in GAC action with the win and sealed a spot in the GAC Tournament November 10-12 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Thursday's win also marked Harding's 20th straight win dating back to August 27th. Harding broke the previous record of 17 that was accomplished twice with the first being in 2002 and the second in 2005 last Friday after defeating Southwestern Oklahoma 3-1.

Harding stays in first place in the GAC standings and improves to 22-1 overall and 11-0 in the GAC.

Southern Nazarene falls to 13-10 overall and 7-4 in the GAC.

FIRST SET

Harding jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set on six kills before Southern Nazarene quickly tied the set. Tied at 20, each team exchanged points before Southern Nazarene had back-to-back points to win 25-23. Harding had 17 kills in the set.

SECOND SET

Trailing 4-3 in the second set, Harding went on a 4-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. The Lady Bisons didn't give up the lead the rest of the way as they won the set 25-20. Harding had 15 kills in the set.

THIRD SET

Harding took a commanding 8-3 lead in the third set as Southern Nazarene didn't get any close than three the rest of the way as the Lady Bisons won the set 25-18. Harding had 19 kills in the set and hit .357.

FOURTH SET

Trailing 8-7 in the fourth set, Harding went on a 9-3 run on four kills and two aces to lead 16-11. Trailing 21-20, Southern Nazarene scored three straight points to lead 23-21. The Lady Bisons couldn't overcome the deficit as the Crimson Storm won the set 25-23.

FIFTH SET

Trailing 5-3 in the fifth, Harding went on a 4-0 run on two kills to lead 7-5. Southern Nazarene got within one 8-7 but the Lady Bisons fought off the Crimson Storm attack to win the set 15-10. Each team had eight kills in the set and only one attack error.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had a season-high 69 kills in the match and hit .224. It was the third time this season the Lady Bisons have had 60 or more kills in a match.

-          Kelli McKinnon led Harding with 18 kills and hit .484. She also had five blocks.

-          Logan Smith captured a double-double tying a season-high in kills with 17 and had 11 digs.

-          Libby Hinton also had 11 kills and led Harding at the net with six blocks.

-          Sarah Morehead also captured a double-double with 57 assists and a career high 21 digs.

-          Harding had a season-high 106 digs in the match. Emma Winiger had 21 digs, Grecia Soriano had 14 digs and Cam Hinton had 10 digs.

-          Harding also had a season-high 13 blocks in the match. It was the fourth time this season the Lady Bisons have had 10 or more blocks in a match.

Southern Nazarene

-          Southern Nazarene had 56 kills and hit .177 in the match.

-          The Crimson Storm was led by Sunny Batschelett who had 14 kills and six blocks.

-          Southern Nazarene had 97 digs in the match  and was led by Madeline Lynch who had 33.

 UP NEXT

Harding will be back in action next Thursday when it travels to Magnolia, Arkansas to take on Southern Arkansas at 6 p.m.