ADA, Okla. – The East Central University volleyball team hosted Southern Nazarene for the first Great American Conference game of the year but came away with the first conference loss of the young season, 3-0.
 
The Tigers move to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
 
ECU played SNU tight in the opening set, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead before battling through 10 tied scores and three lead changes. The Crimson Storm began to separate themselves at the 16-17 mark when they came up with six unanswered points to break open the game 22-17. A block by Odalys Gonzalez put a stop to the SNU scoring run, but it was not enough to regain control and the Crimson Storm would take the set 25-19.
 
Though the final score in set two was just like the first, ECU found itself paying from behind through the mid to late points. With the score knotted 10-all, the Crimson Storm earned three consecutive points before going on a 5-0 scoring run shortly after to jump ahead 19-13. With SNU's lead extended, the Tigers inched their way back, cutting the deficit to 23-18, but the Crimson Storm would claim two of the last three points to close out the set 25-19.
 
SNU looked to be leading comfortably in the third set with a 9-3 advantage until kills from Odalys Gonzalez and Jada Abercrombie, combined with SNU errors, put ECU right back in the game trailing 9-8. However, the Crimson Storm answered back scoring eight of the next 11 points to reestablish themselves 17-11. The Tigers never managed to recover from there and eventually lost 25-15 in the final frame.
 
Emma Strickland led the Tigers with 12 kills and 11 digs for a double-double. Odalys Gonzalez finished with nine kills and 11 digs while Ashleigh Miller was next with five kills. Julia Kabala dished out 22 assists, Brooke Sarahina had seven, and libero Sydney Roshek tallied a team-best 17 digs.
 
ECU will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 15 with a tri-match at the Kerr Activities Center. The Tigers will take on USAO at 2 pm before battling Huston-Tillotson at 6 pm.