ALVA, Okla. – Oklahoma Baptist middle blockers
Avery Hellmuth,
Jill Leslie and
Audrey Poupard all hit above .375 on Friday as the Bison swept Northwestern Oklahoma State in Great American Conference action at Percefull Fieldhouse.
Those three combined for 23 of the team's 44 kills while
Abrey Galt had a strong night with 37 assists, two off her season high. On the outside,
D'Erricka Frierson registered 11 kills and eight digs while defensive specialists
Maci Langford and
Kaelyn Ina each notched 10+ digs.
The green and gold improved their record to 17-10 and 11-3 in the GAC with the result.
First-set competition was pretty even until the Bison closed the opening stanza with a strong, 5-1 stretch. Leading 18-16, OBU got back-to-back points from Hellmuth and
Taneyah Brown, the latter of those a solo block, to help the Bison go up 20-16. Also, in that mix of points,
Jenna West's serving helped Hellmuth earn a couple kills on over balls from the Rangers. By set's end, it was 25-18 Bison.
OBU had to rally a little in the second before prevailing 25-20. At one point, the host Rangers led 14-11 before coach
Anna Howle used one of her timeouts. After that, OBU got in gear, scoring five of the next six which included a tying-score ace by Hellmuth and then go-ahead kill by OBU's junior middle. A little later, Hellmuth and Galt combined for a block to push the advantage to 18-15. That was a part of a 10-1 stretch for the visitors.
In the final stanza, OBU's offense was efficient hitting .327. And like the previous two frames, the Bison pulled away at the end. With the score reading 19-18 after a Rangers point, OBU scored six straight. That included two blocks from Hellmuth and kills by Brown and Frierson.
The Bison's next game comes on Nov. 1 at Southern Nazarene. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
