ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Taneyah Brown tied for her season high with 16 kills as No. 23 Oklahoma Baptist defeated Henderson State 3-1 on Thursday night at Duke Wells Center. The Bison bolstered their record to 15-3 (8-2 GAC) and stayed within a game of first place in the Great American Conference.
Brown wasn't the only factor on this night. Senior setter
Kaylee Buell went for a match-high 40 assists, 21 digs and five kills while
Avery Hellmuth tallied 12 kills and a .458 attack mark. Additionally,
Malia Leatherland notched nine kills and 21 digs and
Rylen Moore secured 17 digs.
As a unit, OBU's defense was good, holding Henderson to its second lowest attack mark (.123) of the season.
After a fast, 4-0 start by the green and gold, the host Reddies got in gear to notch things up at 5 following a kill by Christiane Uzoh. Over the rest of the set, the score remained close until the Bison prevailed late.
With the score 23-all coming out of a timeout, Brown and
Audrey Poupard teamed up on a block before Brown finished off a Buell pass to win the set, 25-23.
A 1-0 match lead then doubled for the visitors, courtesy of a dominating second-set start. The Bison scored 11 straight points to take an 11-2 advantage. During that stretch, Brown and
Taryn Weber each had multiple kills. The Reddies did make things interesting with a 5-0 spurt to make the tally 17-14. However, that would be the closest the hosts got the rest of the way.
In the third, the Reddies earned a 25-21 set win. Competition was tight, as a Brown kill had the scoreboard reading 14-14. But over the next several sequences, HSU's Uzoh and Mya Robinson tallied kills and OBU committed a couple errors to give the hosts a 19-16 lead. That advantage wasn't relinquished as Henderson ended up closing the set on a Kaitlyn Sykes kill.
OBU then sealed the deal in the fourth stanza. With things knotted up eight apiece, the Bison hit a 9-3 run to attain a 17-11 advantage. Brown, Hellmuth, Weber and Poupard all contributed kills during that run. By the end of the set, OBU had hit .317 as a team, its highest mark of the night.
Tomorrow, the Bison will travel to Ouachita at 5:30 p.m. to wrap up their road trip.
