SHAWNEE – Malia Leatherland had an electric fourth set to help aid the No. 19-ranked Oklahoma Baptist volleyball team to a gritty 3-1 victory against the visiting Arkansas-Fort Smith Lady Lions on Tuesday night at Noble Complex.
It was the Bison's fifth straight win and 11th in the last 12 matches. They improved to 11-2 by night's end.
Leatherland had 18 kills while
Avery Hellmuth tallied 13 kills.
Taryn Weber also reached double-digit kill totals (11) as did
Taneyah Brown (10). Setter
Kaylee Buell notched a match-high 48 assists and contributed 12 digs.
Defensively,
Diana Carranza tied for the match-high with 21 digs. That mark was also a season best. Additionally,
Rylen Moore notched a season-high 16 digs while
Kaelyn Ina added 11.
In the first, the Bison never trailed but never pulled away. OBU's biggest lead was 14-10 following a kill from Weber. UAFS got to within one point on a few occasions, with its last coming at 21-20 on a block assist from Hannah Holland and Courtney Crownover. However, the green and gold closed the stanza scoring four of the last six including a kill at the end from Leatherland.
Down 1-0, UAFS had a few more advantages in the second. More than halfway through, the visitors led 18-16 after a kill from Reagan Macha. Following that point, the Bison got in front. Leatherland had a kill and ace while
Audrey Poupard added another kill making the score 19-18. That lead would not be relinquished after that small spurt. By the end, OBU prevailed 25-23 on a visitor service error.
Despite being down 2-0, Arkansas-Fort Smith kept battling and won the third set, staving off defeat. It was the Bison's first set loss in the previous 15, in fact. Holland's kill had the Lady Lions up 8-4 early. Later, the visitors boosted its advantage to five, 19-14, after another kill from Macha. UAFS stayed in front, hit .237 and held the Bison to a .081 attack mark by the conclusion.
OBU then shut the door in the fourth. At one point, Leatherland was on fire, hitting .714. She tallied six kills in the stanza. Leading 10-9, the Bison blew things open with a 10-3 stretch. That was the game-changing run which saw Leatherland record four kills while the Lady Lions committed a trio of errors. The Bison won the set 25-19 on a kill from Hellmuth.
Next on the schedule is a first-place GAC matchup with Arkansas Tech. That takes place on Oct. 8 in Russellville at 6 p.m.
