Lady Bison Win in Four

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Box Score (html)
 
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Lady Bison overcame a slew of errors to defeat New Haven 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-16) on Saturday afternoon inside the McArthur Center to move to 3-0 at the Eckerd College Invitational in St. Petersburg, Florida. Oklahoma Baptist's 3-0 start is their best since 2012 when they won six straight.
 
Oklahoma Baptist suffered 24 attack errors, more than their last two matches combined, in the win and held a hitting percentage of .184. The Lady Bison also took 12 service errors and five blocking errors in the win.
 
A hot start to the first set saw Oklahoma Baptist jump out to a quick 3-0 lead, including back-to-back service aces by Kynnedy Myers. The Lady Bison saw their lead shrink, but continued to fight of New Haven until a four-point swing gave the Chargers the lead at 11-9. Despite several timely kills by Mikayla Watson, the Lady Bison were unable to regain the lead and dropped their first set of the Eckerd College Invitational, 25-21.  
 
Nicole Fleitman turned it on once the second set started, laying down nine of her match-best 18 kills in the set against only two errors. With a 17-11 lead, a number of errors occurred that saw OBU's lead shrink to 19-18 before Fleitman stemmed the tide with three straight kills. Fleitman earned a solo block on an attack by New Haven's Alex Bussey to seal the set win.
 
Oklahoma Baptist enjoyed a number of errors by the Chargers to start out the third set, carrying a 10-6 lead midway through the set. Myers set up Fleitman and Taylor Williams for three straight kills to push OBU's advantage, forcing a New Haven timeout. Though the timeout eventually led to UNH taking control of the set at 21-20, Darby Maclea entered the match and immediately recorded two aces that sandwiched a Watson kill. The Chargers survived three set points before another big kill by Fleitman gave the Lady Bison the 2-1 lead.
 
Watson carried OBU over the finish, laying down a team-best five kills in the set while swinging .300, in what turned out to be the most-dominant set of the match for either team. Oklahoma Baptist notched 13 kills to just four errors. The set was close, with OBU up by one at 14-13, before Shekinah Sharpe earned OBU the serve. Fleitman used back-to-back aces to spark a seven-point run. Sierra VeraCruz provided the final kill to put the match to bed, 3-1, in favor of the Lady Bison.
 
"We really started to get into a groove as a team as the match went on," said OBU head coach Anna Howle. "Kynnedy made great decisions and Nicole and Mikayla really came through for us on the attack. At the net, Cadyn and Taylor did a great job and helped us win the match."
 
Fleitman led the way with 18 kills, and Watson provided a great second option for Myers with 15 kills to her credit. Myers handed out 39 assists, while also recording six kills and 13 digs. Defensively, the Lady Bison had four reach double figures in digs, including Katrina Horner, Myers, Sharpe and Watson, while Williams had a match-best two solo blocks.
 
The Lady Bison return to the floor at 7:30 p.m. EDT as they wrap up the Eckerd College Invitational against the hosts from Eckerd, the only other undefeated team in the tournament.