SHAWNEE – Riding a nine-match winning streak, the Oklahoma Baptist volleyball team is set for a pair of home Great American Conference matches this week. The Bison will first welcome rival Southern Nazarene to Mabee Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 1 before turning around and hosting Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday, Oct. 3. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.
Oklahoma Baptist enters the week with a 13-3 record and atop the GAC standings at 3-0 in league play. The squad's nine-match winning streak is a program record in OBU's Division II era; the program record is 21-straight wins set in 1980.
The Bison offense is one of the best in all of Division II, ranking third with 777 total kills (13.4/set) and second in assists with 720 (12.4/set).
Malia Leatherland leads OBU and ranks second in the GAC, boasting a 3.42 kills/set average, while
Hayley Daniel ranks eighth with a 3.08 kills/set mark.
At 7.16 assists/set,
Rylen Moore is ninth in the conference while playing in a 6-2 system. Her running mate at setter,
Kaylee Buell, is 4.52 assists/set. The Bison are swinging a league-best .231.
Defensively, OBU ranks fifth in the country with 1,033 total digs this season. Averaging 5.11 digs/set,
Diana Carranza is third in the conference in the category. At the net, the Bison are averaging 1.71 blocks/set, led by
Audrey Poupard's average of .89. The Bison boast a GAC-best .142 opponent hitting percentage.
Southern Nazarene owns an 11-5 overall record, including a 2-1 mark in GAC play. The Crimson Storm is second in the league, averaging 12.86 kills/set; Bailee Turang leads the league with an average of 3.62 kills/set. Logan Matthews leads SNU with 4.33 digs/set. Opponents average 11.41 kills/set against the Crimson Storm defense.
Southwestern Oklahoma State is 6-6 overall with a 2-1 record in league play this season. The Bulldogs, averaging 11.23 kills/set, are led by Maicee Morgan's 3.07 kills/set average. Kaitlyn Dillon, who surpassed 2,000 career digs last Thursday against Southeastern Oklahoma State, leads the Dawgs defensively at 5.11 digs/set.
