HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- The Bison are headed home from Hot Springs, Arkansas with a new piece of hardware after sweeping Harding, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-20), in the Great American Conference Tournament Championship. As a result of the win, Oklahoma Baptist punched its ticket to the program's first-ever NCAA Central Regional Tournament via the GAC's automatic qualifying bid.
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Harding started the day with a five-point lead, but the Bison established dominance by rallying back to win the set by four.
Hayley Daniel was locked in early, serving as the spark OBU needed with four kills and five digs in the opening frame.
Malia Leatherland chipped in with three kills and an impressive nine digs.
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The second set was tightly-contested in the beginning; the back-and-forth affair saw three lead changes and eight ties. However, the OBU claimed eight of the next 10 points with the match tied at 11-all. Leatherland did the heavy-lifting this time around, accounting for seven kills in the set, while Daniel scored three of the final six points for the Bison.
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Oklahoma Baptist opened up a 6-2 lead against Harding, but found themselves knotted up at 18-18 deep in the set.
Taneyah Brown went to work, laying down a kill from
Rylen Moore, and then held serve over OBU's next three points to open up a 22-18 lead. Though Harding fought off one match point, Daniel fired home off a
Diana Carranza feed for the championship point.
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Leatherland led the way for OBU with 17 kills on 46 attempts, while Daniel tallied 12 kills. Both would finish with double-doubles after accounting for 17 and 15 digs, respectively. Moore and
Kaylee Buell handed out 44 assists on the day. On the defensive end, Carranza posted a match-high 29 digs.
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Following the match, Leatherland, Carranza and Daniel were named to the All-GAC Tournament Team, with Leatherland claiming Tournament Most-Valuable Player honors.
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With NCAA Regional passage secured, the Bison will learn their opponent on Monday, Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. during the NCAA selection show on NCAA.com.
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