Box Score The postseason aspirations for the Bears took a big step towards reality Monday following a 25-18, 11-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-6 win over visiting East Central.
 
With the win, the Bears have locked in a birth into the post season tournament.
 
"What a great match tonight," Southwest head coach Chris Laird said. "I'm very proud of them...we kept playing. In the past we've had opportunities to sort of sit back and let the other team take over and I was glad to see that we did not let that happen tonight."
 
The Bears (6-19, 3-11 MACCC) became locked in a battle with the Warriors early on. A pair of Regan Robinson kills was followed by three individuals from Saylor Hammond, representing the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th points of the set for Southwest who pulled even with the visitors.
 
Afterward, the Bears went on a run as three kills from Haley Eckert and a kill and a block each from Tierra Martin highlighted a 7-1 run which gave Southwest the upper hand. The Bears continued to rally to close out the first set on top.
 
The momentum unfortunately swung back on the visitors side in the second set as the Bears had no answer for the Warriors' surge.
 
Despite being more competitive in the third set, the Bears came up just short as the Warriors claimed the frame, looking to pick up the win in the fourth.

Southwest continued to compete as Eckert put the team on her back in the early stages of the set, scoring four of the Bears' first 10 points on three kills and an ace.
 
Eckert said that the team had the right frame of mind entering the match and it showed in the play.
 
"I feel like we did a really good job of playing with each other and for each other," she said. "We also had the opportunity to play East Central before in five (sets) and I we kind of knew what they were doing and I really feel like we did a good job of communicating open spots. We also passed well and when we pass well then our middles can get set and me and Ava (Davis) had a really good connection tonight and so did Abby (Greenlee).
 
Southwest closed out the fourth frame on a 12-6 run to force a fifth set.
 
In the fifth, a couple of big plays by Martin were followed-up by a block, a kill and an ace from Eckert as the Bears set the tone early.
 
Another late rally concluded with kills from Greenlee and Hammond as Southwest claimed the match.
 
The Bears will play their final road contest of the regular season Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Northeast.