Volleyball Falters in Ada

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Box Score (html)
 
ADA, Okla. – The Lady Bison were unable to withstand a late flurry of offense by East Central, dropping their first Great American Conference match of the season to the Tigers, 3-2 (25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 12-25, 8-15), on Tuesday night inside the Kerr Activities Center on the campus of East Central.
 
After falling behind 9-6 in the first set, a dominant run by the Lady Bison was sparked by an ECU error. Oklahoma Baptist ripped of nine straight points, with kills from Shekinah Sharpe and Kynnedy Myers, as freshman Darby Maclea held serve. Cadyn Laing pushed the lead to 19-11 off the dish from Myers, and Nicole Fleitman laid down the deciding kill soon after to give OBU a 1-0 lead.
 
The second set was a back-and-forth affair for much of the frame. Down 14-11 midway through the set, Myers found a hole in the Tiger defense that eventually gave OBU a 15-14 lead after a pair of Laing kills came on either side of a Myers ace. The Lady Bison were suddenly struck by a cold spell, and ECU was create what would prove to be an insurmountable lead at 21-16 despite the valiant effort of Fleitman, Sharpe and Adonica Wright to pull within 23-21. Oklahoma Baptist would go on to fall in the set 25-21, and the match tied up at 1-1.
 
After trailing early in the third, OBU claimed a lead at 9-8 that they would never relinquish. Ripping off a six-point flurry, Sharpe went to work with a pair of kills as the Lady Bison also benefited from a Myers ace and a couple of Tiger errors, Oklahoma Baptist's lead would balloon to 15-9.. Though OBU saw their lead shrink to 22-18, Sharpe and Laing made short work of the Tigers to claim the third set 25-19 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
A disastrous fourth set, which saw OBU trail by as many as 13 points at 24-11 before giving up the set at 25-12 to send the match into the deciding fifth set. Another nine-point run by the Tigers produced a 9-2 deficit for the Bison, who closed the gap to 12-7 after the turn. However, OBU would surrender three of the next four points to drop the set 15-8 and the match 3-2.
 
Fleitman led the team with 16 kills on 41 attack attempts, while Laing had an efficient night with 14 kills while swinging .462. Sharpe led the team with 20 digs, as three other Lady Bison, including Maclea and Sierra VeraCruz, tallied double figures. Myers had a double-double with 41 assists and 15 digs.
 
Oklahoma Baptist (9-8, 3-1 GAC) have the rest of the week off. They will resume play next Tuesday, Oct. 3 when they welcome Southwestern Oklahoma State to the Noble Complex for conference action.