BETHANY, Okla. - Midwestern State battled its way to a second-straight win Tuesday night outlasting Southern Nazarene 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 16-14 at Sawyer Center.
 
The Mustangs improved to 9-7 on the season and return to Lone Star Conference play Saturday afternoon at Texas A&M-Kingsville. First serve at Steinke Center is set for 1 p.m.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Marzik led a pack of three MSU attackers posting double figure kills with 14 while completing her second double-double of the season with 18 digs.
 
Senior middle blocker Caitlin Wallace added 11 kills and three blocks while senior outside hitter Marija Jovanovic had 11 kills of her own.
 
None of it came easy for the Mustangs as Southern Nazarene was big at the net posting 20 total team blocks including nine each from Taylor Jacobs and Emily Dick while Jamie added eight more.
 
The Crimson Storm (12-6) posted 12 of their 20 blocks in its winning sets -- the second and fourth frames -- in what turned into a defensive slugfest.
 
Midwestern sparkled on the back row with six players posted 10-or-more digs paced by junior libero Casey Fletcher with 29, but had plenty of helping arms including Marzik (18), freshman setter Sarah Rosinke (13), sophomore Marissa Olivares (12), redshirt freshman Madelyn Johnson (11) and freshman Alyssa Fulgium (10).
 
Southern Nazarene proved just as formidable with libero Abbey Bell led a group of five double-figure dig efforts with a match-high 34.
 
The Mustangs finally put away the match using a 6-0 spurt fueled by Johnson's service game to take a 12-9 lead then held on to win on consecutive kills by freshman Cody Moore and senior Beatriz Villalba in the decisive fifth set.
 
Jacobs paced the Southern Nazarene attack with a match-high 20 kills to go along with 10 digs and nine blocks, but the Crimson Storm's five-match winning streak came to an end.