BETHANY, Okla. – The fifth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist volleyball team completed a perfect regular season as they defeated rival Southern Nazarene in a tough three set match, 26-24, 25-21, 25-22, on Tuesday evening inside the Sawyer Center.
OBU finished with 48 kills to 18 errors with a .242 hitting percentage while SNU had 36 kills to 12 errors with a .203 hitting percentage. The Crimson Storm held a slight 6-4 advantage in service aces while OBU held the edge in digs and assists.
It was a dreadful start for the Bison as they found themselves down 10-1 thanks to a massive nine-point rally by SNU to get the home crowd going early on. OBU would use small rallies to chip away at the deficit and get back into the set.
The Bison found their opening down 18-15 as the likes of
Taryn Weber,
Avery Hellmuth, and
D'Erricka Frierson gave OBU six of the next seven points to race ahead and take a 20-19 lead.
The two teams battled back-and-forth before a three-point rally gave SNU a 24-22 advantage as they looked to take the first set and the momentum. However,
Taneyah Brown and
Audrey Poupard paced the Bison down the stretch as OBU scored the final four points to storm back and steal the first set, 26-24.
That momentum carried over to the second set as OBU opened up a commanding 13-4 lead. The Crimson Storm would battle back, but would never get closer than three as OBU took the second set, 25-21.
In the third set, an eight-point rally gave OBU a 10-4 lead early in the set. The Bison maintained a comfortable advantage for most of the set until a four-point rally from the Crimson Storm made it a 19-18 game.
SNU continued to pressure, but OBU found a way to close the match as back-to-back kills from Hellmuth and Poupard closed the match, 25-22.
It was a balanced attacked offensively as Weber led the way with 10 kills while Brown added nine. Leatherland picked up eight kills on .313 hitting while Poupard and Hellmuth each added seven kills. Buell was terrific in passing with 40 assists on the night.
Defensively,
Kaelyn Ina led the way with 10 digs while Buell and
Diana Carranza each added nine. Poupard added five block assists while Brown picked up three.
The Bison move to 15-0 and will return to action on Thursday, April 8 for the Great American Conference Quarterfinals against a Western Division opponent to be determined. More details of the GAC Tournament will become available on obubison.com later in the week.
