ADA, Okla. – No. 23 Oklahoma Baptist dominated the fourth and fifth sets to defeat East Central 3-2 on Tuesday night in Great American Conference Play. The green and gold improved to 18-3 overall and moved into a tie for first place in the GAC with an 11-2 mark.
For head coach
Anna Howle, it was her 350th career win, all of which have been attained while at OBU. Also of note,
Kaylee Buell's match-high 38 assists moved her career total to 2,002. She's one of just five Bison players to ever surpass 2,000 assists.
Tuesday night's game was far from easy though. OBU previously defeated East Central in straight sets before having to rally on this night. In fact, the Bison dropped the first and third stanzas before fighting to prevail.
After two close sets, the host Tigers moved back in front in the third. Early on, the Bison got off to a good start which saw a 5-1 lead after an
Avery Hellmuth kill. What followed was five straight points for the Tigers which included a pair of attack errors by the Bison. With the score at 6-5, the teams traded points for a bit before OBU went back in front, 14-13, on a ball-handling error.
Following that slim, one-point advantage, the Tigers went on a roll. They scored eight of the next nine points to attain a 21-15 lead. Four of those eight points came via Bison error. By the end of the third, ECU had won 25-21 on a Darcie Kaiser kill.
Down 2-1, OBU turned things up a notch in the final two frames.
At the start of the fourth,
Malia Leatherland,
Audrey Poupard and Buell each tallied kills as the Bison opened a 6-1 lead. Later, that advantage ballooned to ten, 16-6, after
Taneyah Brown and Hellmuth teamed up on a block on the right side. OBU's defense was outstanding in the fourth as it limited the Tigers to a miserable -0.029 attack mark. The Bison tied the match up at 2-2 following a kill by Brown.
In the fifth, another great start put ECU in a hole. Poupard had a couple of kills and a block assist while Brown added a kill to make the tally 7-2. The Tigers scored three straight after that, but got no closer. OBU ended the match with an 8-3 run which included three kills from Leatherland.
The Bison will remain on the road Thursday when they visit Southeastern Oklahoma State.
