Lady Bison Down Tigers in Five

ADA, Okla. – (HTML Box Score) Oklahoma Baptist escaped with a 3-2 win (25-21, 25-20, 19-25, 23-25, 15-11) over Great American Conference rival East Central Thursday night at the Kerr Activities Center.
 
The Lady Bison (14-11, 9-3 GAC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Tigers (7-20, 2-10 GAC), but struggled to close out the match and were forced to win in five sets. OBU allowed ECU to stick around with nine service errors on the night.
 
OBU was tied at 19-19 with the Tigers in the first set, but a quick surge of four straight points gave the Lady Bison enough separation to take a 1-0 set advantage on the road. After a five-point lead nearly evaporated late in the second set, OBU led ECU 21-20. The Lady Bison closed out the set on a 4-0 run behind two kills from Mikayla Watson and a service ace from Kelsi Chavez. ECU extended the match with victories in the third and fourth sets.
 
A burst from the Lady Bison to start the fifth set built a quick 9-4 lead, but the Tigers rallied back to make it a two-point contest at 12-10. Watson sealed the match with three kills to ensure the OBU victory.
 
Multiple season records were set in the five-set victory and four players registered a double-double. Watson finished with a season-high 23 kills and picked up her team-leading 14^th double-double, adding 32 digs. Hayden Blair also posted a double-double on a season-high 58 assists and 20 digs, and Chavez paced the Lady Bison with a season-high 39 digs. Senior Cadyn Laing finished with 15 kills and 14 digs for her sixth double-double of the season and Malia Leatherland had 12 kills to go with 17 digs.
 
Oklahoma Baptist will step outside of GAC play for the final time Saturday with a non-conference doubleheader in Topeka, Kansas. OBU will face Fort Hays State on a neutral court for the second time this season at 3 p.m., followed by a road match at 5 p.m. against Washburn.