Massive First Set Comeback Leads No. 23 Bison to Win at ECU

ADA, Okla. -- The first lesson you learn when being ranked for the first time in the Division II era?

There's a target on your back.

East Central had upset on the brain, looking for their second straight win over a top-25 opponent, but the 23rd-ranked Oklahoma Baptist volleyball team took the Tigers' best shot and found a way to win it in four, 28-26, 25-15, 12-25, 25-19, on Friday afternoon inside the Kerr Activities Center.

OBU finished with 51 kills to 26 errors as they hit .167 as a team, while East Central finished with 49 kills to 22 errors and hit .174. OBU held a 47-44 advantage in assists and a 69-66 edge in digs, while ECU led the way in blocks at 8-7.

The first set may have set the tone for the entire match.

The Tigers came out red hot, hitting close to .400 throughout much of the first set. The Bison were not making a ton of errors in the set, but rather East Central was playing at such a high level, using huge rallies to push out a 22-14 lead.

It seemed as though the Tigers were on pace to take the first set, making it an uphill battle for the Bison, but OBU was not finished with the set yet, getting five straight points behind kills from Malia Leatherland, Jenna West, and Julia Brinton, as well as blocks from Brinton and Kaylee Buell.

ECU got a point back to lead 23-19 before Tiger errors, plus a kill from Leatherland, made it a one-point match at 23-22. ECU got it to match point, leading 24-22 before back-to-back kills from Taneyah Brown and Leatherland evened it at 24.

The Tigers got their second match points before two straight kills from Leatherland and Aubrey Poupard gave OBU their first match point. 

After East Central evened it back at 26 apiece, OBU put the set away on back-to-back kills from Brown and West to clinch the set and all of the momentum. 

After hitting upwards of .400 for most of the set, the Bison turned on the defense late in the first set to hold ECU to .213 hitting. The Bison had 17 kills to six errors and hit .262 in the set.

OBU carried that over to the second set as they went for 18 kills to four errors, hitting .368 to cruise to a 25-15 victory and a 2-0 lead. OBU held ECU to only eight kills in the set and used a seven point rally midway through the second set to break it wide open.

However, East Central responded in set three with a 25-12 win to cut it to a 2-1 game. It was OBU's worst set of the season, finishing with only five kills to 11 errors (-.182) while the Tigers hit north of .350.

The fourth set would go back and forth with ECU leading for a decent portion of it, leading by as many as three midway through. OBU trailed 19-18 after tying it and would score the next seven points, which included six Tiger errors to wrap up the win.

Leatherland finished with 13 points on .238 hitting with 12 digs and three block assists, while Brown added 12 kills and two block assists. Brinton added five kills off the bench, and Poupard had four kills and four block assists.

Buell was incredible with 39 assists, 12 digs, and four kills for the Bison, while Diana Carranza led the defense with 18 digs. Kelsi Chavez added eight digs, and Kaelyn Ina had five and a service ace.

Thalianette Garcia had 17 kills to lead ECU, while Sydney Dungen had 31 assists. Alejandra Delgado had 25 digs and Kemyra Landry had five block assists.

OBU moves to 3-0 overall and finally returns home on Tuesday as the Bison will welcome in Southern Nazarene. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and will be carried on the Bison Sports Network.