SHAWNEE – After going 2-0 last week on the road against Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello, the Bison return home to Mabee Arena at the Noble Complex for a pair of games against Harding and Arkansas Tech for homecoming weekend.
In a pair of heavyweight bouts, the Oklahoma Baptist will first square off with Harding on Friday, Oct. 25 at 6 PM. The Bison then turn around to take on Arkansas Tech at 12 PM on Saturday, Oct. 26. At 8-1 in the Great American Conference, OBU sits atop the standings, while Harding and ATU have matching 6-3 records and are tied for third.
Offensively, the Bison rank in the top 10 nationally in total kills (1,125), total assists (1,041) and total attack attempts (3,237).
Malia Leatherland, who last week became the fifth OBU player to reach 1,000 career kills, leads the Bison with an average of 3.6 kills/set.
Hayley Daniel and
Taneyah Brown are second and third on the team with marks of 2.9 and 2.2 kills/set, respectively.
Rylen Moore and
Kaylee Buell have allowed that level of production from a multi-pronged attack, setting up OBU to swing for a GAC-leading .218 hitting percentage. Moore has a team-high 6.9 assists/set, while Buell is handing out 4.3 assists/set.
On the defensive front, the Bison's 1,516 total digs rank sixth in all of Division II and have gone a long way towards holding opponents hitting just .137 this season, the best mark in the GAC.
Diana Carranza has a team-high 4.9 digs/set, followed by Daniel's mark of 3.0. At the net,
Julia Brinton and
Audrey Poupard are averaging 1.0 and .9 blocks/set.
Harding enters Friday's contest with a 15-7 overall record but saw their seven-match win streak snapped by Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday. Harding leads the GAC with an average of 13.4 kills/set, paced by Logan Smith's 3.4 kills/set. Katherine Perry has a team-best 4.2 digs/set.
Arkansas Tech owns an overall record of 13-8 but is riding a two-match slide heading into the week. The Golden Suns average 12.2 kills/set, the fourth-best mark in the league, and are led by Allie Anderson's 3.0 kills/set. Greer Rogers leads all players in the GAC with 1.43 blocks/set, while Madison Grantham has a team-high 4.1 digs/set.
