SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist won twice on Friday at the Noble Complex, defeating Newman in five sets along with a 3-0 sweep of St. Edward's. With the results, the green and gold improved to 2-4 during the first day of the OBU Fall Tournament.
MATCH ONE
Avery Hellmuth was sensational against the Jets, totaling a career-high 20 kills, a .474 attack percentage and two aces. Freshmen setters
Abrey Galt and
Rylee Martin combined to tally 62 assists and defensively,
Maci Langford went for 34 digs, also a career-high.
OBU edged Newman 25-23 in the first set after holding the visitors to a .109 attack mark. However, a set later, the Jets got their offense in gear and tied the match up. They almost tripled their attack percentage in the second set (.321), registered 20 kills and won 25-19.
That second-set score was reversed by the Bison in the third, which put the home squad ahead in the match, 2-1. Leading 13-10, OBU scored four of the next five points and after a
D'Erricka Frierson ace, the hosts led 17-11.
Taneyah Brown then closed the third with a kill, one of 13 on the night.
In the fourth, the Bison had a chance to close the match leading 23-20 after a Frierson kill. However, Newman scored five unanswered to send the contest to a fifth frame.
During the fifth and final set,
Jh-Kyah Head and
Jill Leslie totaled five kills as the Bison won on a Hellmuth solo block, 15-11.
MATCH TWO
OBU was well-diversified on the offensive front as five different players tallied at least five kills against the Hilltoppers. Leading the way were Leslie and
Payton Rink each of whom had nine.
Defensively, the Bison were very impressive. At no point during each of the three sets did St. Edward's hit above .100. The set scores went 25-19, 25-15 and 25-16.
First-set action saw OBU come back from a 17-15 deficit by ending the first on a 10-2 run. Highlighting that stretch were a couple of kills each by Hellmuth and Rink.
A frame later, Leslie paced the way with five kills and a .571 attack mark. OBU scored five of the first six points following a block from Hellmuth and Brown and over the remainder of the set, St. Edward's never got any closer than three points.
OBU closed out the sweep in the third as it scored the last five points to win 25-16.
Tomorrow, the Bison will face Texas A&M-Kingsville at 10:30 a.m. before closing out the day against Union (TN) at 4:30.
