SHAWNEE – Two teams – Oklahoma Baptist and Harding – with a combined winning streak of 26 matches, will meet on Thursday at 6 p.m. inside the Noble Complex for a first-place, Great American Conference volleyball match.
OBU (14-8, 8-1 GAC) will conclude its week with an Oct. 14 match at 4 p.m. against Arkansas Tech. Both matches are a part of the team's Dig Pink week with proceeds going towards The Side-Out Foundation which helps patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Thursday's contest with the Lady Bisons (20-1, 9-0 GAC) will be the 11th in series history. OBU leads 6-4 and has won five straight against HU.
The Bison, who have an eight-match winning streak, have put together some impressive numbers the last couple weeks. Defensively, the green and gold have held its opponents to a .131 attack mark and notched 2.24 blocks per set. Offensively, the team has connected on a respectable .260 clip and tallied 14.89 kills per set.
Overall, here's how coach
Anna Howle's team stacks up in the GAC and in Division II.
As a team Individually
| 6th nationally in digs: 18.42 |
Jill Leslie: 2nd in GAC in attack mark (.349) |
| 50th in blocks: 236; 2.16 p/s |
Maci Langford: 15th in D2 in digs (5.38) |
| 2nd in GAC in assists (12.57) |
Avery Hellmuth: 48th in D2 in total blocks (73.0) |
| 2nd in kills (13.66) |
Rylee Martin: 10th in GAC in assists (5.79) |
Harding, a team receiving votes in the
latest AVCA poll, is currently riding a program-record 18-match winning streak. In 12 of those wins, the Lady Bisons have won 3-0. Most recently, they defeated Southwestern Oklahoma State 3-1 on Oct. 7. HU leads the GAC and is scattered across NCAA D2 in several statistical rankings. Here's a look:
As a team Individually
| 3rd in D2 in digs (18.82) |
Sarah Morehead: 11th in DII in assists (11.01) |
| 7th in assists (13.11) |
Kelli McKinnon: GAC leader in attack mark (.357) |
| 34th in hitting percent (.242) |
Emma Winiger: Tops in the GAC in aces (34; 0.48) |
| GAC leader in opp. hitting perc. (.120) |
Logan Smith: 9th in kills (200; 2.90 per set) |
OBU will wrap up the week against Arkansas Tech, a program that won last year's GAC Tournament Final in a five-set thriller over the Bison. However, this season, the Golden Suns are just 5-16 and 3-6 in the GAC. ATU has lost its last three matches after being swept at home on Oct. 10 against Arkansas-Fort Smith. This will be the tenth all-time matchup between OBU and ATU with the Golden Suns leading 5-4.
As a team Individually
| Last (12th) in hitting percentage (.115) |
Brianna Merkel: 9th in assists (5.79) |
| 11th in kills (10.65) |
Megan Solberg: 6th in digs (4.09) |
| 2nd in aces (1.69) |
Jamie Myrick: 7th in aces (28; 0.38) |
| 9th in digs (15.76) |
No ATU players in top-10 in hitting perc. or kills |
For more information on OBU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (
OBU_Volleyball) and Instagram (
OBU_Volleyball).
