Lady Bison Ground Skyhawks in Five

BOLIVAR, Mo. – (HTML Stats) Oklahoma Baptist opened the Southwest Baptist Tournament with a thrilling five-set victory over Fort Lewis College, coming from behind to win 3-2 (21-25, 27-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-7) Friday morning.
 
After dropping the first set, the Lady Bison evened the score with a 27-25 win in the second set. Senior Cadyn Laing assisted Rachel Richie for a kill to break the 25-25 tie, and Laing sealed the win with a service ace.
 
OBU dominated the third set for a nine-point victory, the largest winning margin in any set this season for the Lady Bison. The Skyhawks took the fourth to force a winner-take-all fifth set.
 
The decisive final set was a wire-to-wire win for OBU, who hit .429 as a team in the fifth. With the match tied 2-2, the Lady Bison used an 8-1 run to break the game open. Mikayla Watson closed the match with three kills in the final four points as OBU cruised to a win.
 
Watson paced the Lady Bison with 16 kills and added 11 digs for her second straight double-double. Hayden Blair registered a season-high 46 assists, Laing and Sophia Couto each had four blocking assists and Kelsi Chavez finished with 16 digs.
 
Now 3-2, OBU will wrap up Friday's matches at the Southwest Baptist Tournament with a 1 p.m. contest against Drury.