SHAWNEE – The 23rd-ranked Oklahoma Baptist Bison got a strong test from the visiting Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers on Thursday night at Noble Complex. But with the help of
Malia Leatherland and some relentless third-set defense, the Bison won in three.
The victory moved OBU's record to 17-3 and 10-2 in the Great American Conference.
Northwestern's first-set performance was solid before a late OBU run. The visitors hung tough with the Bison, trading points and leads a few times. With the scoreboard tied at 17, NWOSU scored four of the next six including an Addison Wimmer kill to bring the tally to 21-19. That point forced an OBU timeout. What followed was a set-winning 6-1 run for the home team.
Avery Hellmuth started the stretch with a kill before setter
Rylen Moore tallied one of her own to tie it. The Bison's final two points came courtesy of Leatherland and
Destiny AbuBakir-Temple. For Leatherland she tallied eight kills in the first.
The second set saw the Rangers rally. Down 20-15 after a
Taneyah Brown point, Northwestern evened things up at 21-all and 22-all after a Bison service error. Despite allowing the Rangers back into the set, the green and gold tallied the final three points. Leatherland added another kill before she and
Audrey Poupard notched a block to make the count 24-22. The Bison then won on an attack error by NWOSU.
OBU wrapped things up in the third. Early on, a bad set from the Rangers had the Bison owning a 10-5 advantage. However, three straight kills from Wimmer a bit later notched the scoreboard at 18 apiece. But like the first set, the Bison closed in strong fashion which included a couple long rallies that went the OBU's way.
AbuBakir-Temple gave the Bison another lead, 19-18, before Leatherland closed the match with back-to-back kills including an emphatic point after NWOSU couldn't handle a
Kaylee Buell serve.
The win kept the Bison in second place of the GAC. Their next match comes on Tuesday, Nov. 2 at East Central.
