SHAWNEE - Tuesday at Oklahoma Baptist's Noble Complex, the Bison volleyball
team (16-10, 10-3 GAC) faced off against the 12-10 East Central Tigers (14-14, 9-5 GAC).
This match served as their second meeting this season, with their first ending in a 3-0 East Central win. Although they had a home-court advantage and fought hard, by night's end, the Bison fell prey to the Tigers with a final score of 3-2.
The Bison came into the first rearing to tackle the Tigers. Freshman
Rylee Martin stood out in the stanza with two aces and six assists resulting in kills. With these efforts, the Bison obtained a 15-9 lead. The Tigers refused to let this lead lie, though. With some scorching kills, ECU tied the match, 22-22. The teams were neck-and-neck until senior
Audrey Poupard delivered a fatal kill and the succeeding block to secure the stanza, 26-24.
Second-set action marked ECU striving to level the playing field and OBU fighting for the match advantage. The spotlight of the stanza shone on junior
D'Erricka Frierson, who accounted for seven kills. Despite this, the Tigers secured the second with
Jada Abercrombie's sixth kill of the stanza. At one point, ECU led 21-15, but the Bison rallied, and tied it at 21-all. Down the stretch, the visitors got the last two points from Abercrombie and Nyah Walker to knot the match up 1-1.
OBU held the lead at the beginning of the third, but once ECU caught up at 11-11, the teams traded kill for kill. Though the efforts of
Avery Hellmuth and
Jill Leslie were great with a combined five kills, the six kills of ECU's sophomore Emma Strickland gave ECU the third — turning the game to 2-1 Tigers.
The green and gold didn't let this loss turn make them blue, though. The fourth stanza showcased the Bison's "Never Say Die" spirit with increased attack percentage and fewer errors. Serving as a dynamic duo, Hellmuth notched five kills off
Abrey Galt's serves. With this teamwork, the Bison were able to tie the match 2-2 by securing the fourth 25-20.
The fifth and final stanza was a nail-biter. Though at one point the Bison were down 9-6, the green and gold pulled themselves up to a 10-10 tie. Then after a brief OBU lead, the Tigers did the same, matching it 14-14. In the end, the Tigers finished off the Bison with a service ace for a final set win 17-15 and a 3-2 match victory.
On Friday, the Bison will look to rebound at Northwestern Oklahoma State for a 6 p.m. match.
