SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist's quest for another Great American Conference Championship begins this week with two road games against East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State. The Bison face the Tigers on Sept. 13 before visiting the Savage Storm two days later.
Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. starts.
Last week, OBU played five times, won three and in the process improved its record to 6-7. One of those victories was a big one, sweeping No. 17 Lewis in Pensacola, Fla., during UWF's Walk-On's Invitational.
The Bison's leaders during last week's contests:
D'Erricka Frierson (55 kills),
Rylee Martin (99 assists),
Taneyah Brown and
Avery Hellmuth each with 18 total blocks, and
Maci Langford added 84 digs.
Here's where the green and gold stack up in the GAC a little over two weeks into the year:
As a team…
1st in digs (17.85)
2nd in kills (13.06)
3rd in blocks (2.14)
Individual leaders
Jill Leslie: 3rd in attack percentage (.322)
Maci Langford: 4th in digs (4.85)
Avery Hellmuth: 6th in blocks (0.91)
For East Central, 13 games into the season have resulted in a 4-9 record. One of those losses came to Southwestern Oklahoma State a week ago, a 3-2 GAC defeat. In series history, Tuesday's match with OBU will be the 20th. The Bison have won 12 in a row and hold a 15-4 advantage.
Here are ECU's top players:
No. 19 Emma Strickland: Ranks 3rd in the GAC in kills (3.50) and 2nd in points (3.88)
No. 2 Alejandra Delgado: Conference leader in digs (5.15)
No. 5 Aloni Jordan: Her 1.06 blocks per set rank 3rd
Southeastern has had a rough go to 2022. The Storm are just 1-10 with six of those losses by 3-0 counts. Their only victory so far came Aug. 27 against University of the Southwest. Since then, SE has lost eight straight. This will be the 17th all-time matchup with the Bison. OBU has won 10 in a row and dropped only one set in that time.
Leading the Savage Storm are:
No. 10 D'Nari Mills: Ranks 2nd in kills (3.64) and 4th in points (3.83)
No. 12 Patience Lewis: Checks in at 8th in digs (3.61)
No. 1 Amaya Constantino: Ranks 9th in digs (3.59)
For more information on OBU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (
OBU_Volleyball) and Instagram (
OBU_Volleyball).
