SHAWNEE – Taneyah Brown was one kill off her season high as the No. 24 Oklahoma Baptist Bison won in four sets against the visiting Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs on Tuesday night at Noble Complex.
The win, OBU's ninth in a row, moved the team into sole possession of first place in the GAC. The green and gold are now 20-3 and 13-2 in the league.
Brown registered 15 kills including the final point and added five blocks.
Malia Leatherland was outstanding as well, notching her seventh double-double of the year with 13 kills and 16 digs. Middle blocker
Avery Hellmuth also made her presence felt with 11 kills, five block assists and five digs.
Additionally,
Kaylee Buell directed the OBU offense to the tune of 49 assists, a match high, and added 15 digs while
Diana Carranza notched a match-high 21 digs.
OBU owned the first set, especially defensively as it held SWOSU to a -.062 attack mark. Offensively,
Taryn Weber and Hellmuth each tallied four kills as the Bison got to their attack positions regularly and won 25-12.
The visiting Bulldogs then evened things up in the second. SWOSU's offense was much more efficient, hitting .257. Nearly midway through the set, Southwestern attained a 12-8 lead on a block from Allie Hoang and Markenzie Benoit. OBU pulled to within two, 13-11, on a block of its own from Weber and
Audrey Poupard, however, that was the closest the home squad. SWOSU ended up winning 25-20.
In the third, the Bulldogs' offense cooled, and it helped the Bison win comfortably. In fact, Southwestern notched seven kills, but also committed six errors as it connected on a paltry .025. For OBU, it used a 10-2 run late to win. In that stretch, there were a couple bad sets by the Bulldogs, three Brown kills, a Poupard block and Leatherland ace to help OBU.
SWOSU gave the green and gold a strong effort in the fourth before OBU settled down and won late. Trailing 19-13, the Bulldogs eventually tied it up at 20-all following a block by Benoit. After that though, the Bison scored five of the next seven, including two more Brown kills and a block assist with Poupard to lift the home squad to victory.
On Thursday, coach
Anna Howle's team will have a chance to win the GAC Regular Season title outright when they host Southern Nazarene at 7 p.m.
