Box Score HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Northwestern Oklahoma State volleyball was in its second Great American Conference Championship appearance where they would take on cross-state rival Southern Nazarene, but come up short in the hard-fought match, 3-1.

There were three Ranger standouts in the match and they were the same three to take home All-Conference honors in Jennifer Eubanks, Hannah Williams and Brooklynn Hesson.

Eubanks led the squad and all players on the court with 16 kills and dominated at the net, hitting .560 on the night. Williams and Hesson were right behind their teammate with 13 kills and 12 kills, respectively.

The Rangers started out the first set in promising fashion, but steadily as the game went on, the Crimson Storm started to gain some momentum.

The difference in the first set was attack percentage as SNU was efficient, hitting .343 in the first go around and collected 18 kills total out of the 25-point set.

It was a tight opening frame in Hot Springs, namely early on, but unfortunately for the Rangers the last tie ballgame was at 12-12.

Northwestern was the designated home team for the match due to rank in the final GAC standings, but finished on the short end in the opening set, 25-20.

Following a tough loss in the first set of the 2017 GAC Championship, the Black-and-Red came out hot in the second where they forced SNU into an early timeout at 7-2.

Once again though the Crimson Storm were hard pressed to go down easily, steadily making their way back into the second set, forcing a timeout at 18-14, Rangers.

After a big SNU comeback, the resilient Rangers crossed the finish line first in the second set, taking their first set of the tournament, 25-22. The final point was a tough one for the Black-and-Red, but First Teamer, Eubanks finished it off with authority.

The Black-and-Red began the third frame just as hot as the second, going up 3-0 early on, with two service aces along the way by Clark.

When it started to look like the Rangers would start to take advantage, SNU came back with four straight points to take an 8-5 lead. It became a back-and-forth battle, but at the 10-10 mark, Southern Nazarene started to take control, as they put another four straight points on the board.

Although the Crimson Storm jumped out to a decent lead, Northwestern stayed within range and brought it back to a tie ballgame at 17 all.

Following a big comeback by the Rangers, the Crimson Storm went on another big run of four straight points to take a big 22-19 advantage.

Northwestern didn't go away however, battling all the way back to 23 all, but the Storm proved to be too strong in the end, taking the third set by a score of 26-24.

The fourth set started out as you'd expect, a battle where the lead seesawed back and forth between the two, where neither wanted to take an advantage and hold it.

To tell the tale of the fourth set, neither had consecutive points after the 5-5 mark until Northwestern was able to record back-to-back points to take a 16-15 lead.

It didn't last long however as the Storm were able to respond with two straight of their own to take the lead back at 17-16.

As Barker was serving for the designated home team, the Rangers were able to get back in it and tie it up at 20 apiece, but SNU grabbed the lead right back at 23-21.

In the end though, the Crimson Storm just had everything going their way and they prevailed over the Rangers in the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.

It was a historic run for the Black-and-Red, finishing the season at 20-11, just a year removed from coming away with a 4-22, 2016 season. Northwestern graduates four seniors, but will be looking to come back here at this time next season.