SEARCY, Ark – The fifth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist volleyball team knocked off Arkansas Tech in four sets on Saturday evening to return to the GAC Championship Game for the second consecutive season.
It will be a rematch of the last GAC Championship Game as the Bison look make it back-to-back GAC tournament titles, taking on Harding on their home floor. OBU defeated the Bisons in the championship game in three sets in 2019.
OBU finished with 53 kills to 24 errors while hitting .197 in the match while the Bison defense dominated, holding Tech to 40 kills and 28 errors with a .083 hitting percentage. The Bison held a 66-56 advantage in digs and 50-33 edge in assists.
The Bison rolled in set one with 16 kills to only four errors to hit .353. OBU used a massive eight point rally including 11 of 12 points to build a huge lead at 24-9 en rout to a 25-13 victory in set one.
Taryn Weber was outstanding, finishing with five kills and a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage in the set.
That translated over to set two early on as OBU opened up a 17-12 lead, but Tech close the gap and eventually took the lead at 20-19, taking eight of the next 10 points.
The two teams exchanged points back-and-forth until the Golden Suns held match point at 24-23. The Bison took advantage of a service error to tie it and then won the next two points on a kill from
Audrey Poupard and another error from Tech to win set two 26-24.
Tech took the momentum they gained in their rally to a 25-20 third set victory despite a brilliant five kills from
D'Erricka Frierson.
The Bison turned it back on in the fourth set as they raced out to a 12-4 lead to take complete control. The Bison took advantage of nine Tech errors to only seven kills, earning the 25-16 victory in the set to close the match.
Weber finished with 14 kills while hitting an impressive .367 while Leatherland had 11 kills to go with nine digs.
Taneyah Brown,
Avery Hellmuth, and Poupard all had six kills while Frierson had five.
Kaylee Buell added 42 assists on the night.
Defensively,
Diana Carranza led the way with 21 digs while
Kaelyn Ina had eight. Poupard and Brown each had three block assists.
Tymber Riley led Arkansas Tech with eight kills, 10 digs, and four block assists while Rilie Vote had seven kills and five block assists.
OBU and Harding will square off in the championship match tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. Fans can watch all the action on the GAC Sports Network.
