SHAWNEE -- Tuesday night at OBU's Noble Complex, the Bison volleyball team (8-8, 2-1 GAC) faced off against Great American Conference foe Southwestern Oklahoma State (5-7, 2-2). By night's end, the Bison took the Bulldogs to the pound with a final score of 3-1.
To begin, the Bison and the Bulldogs were at each other's throats with fiery gameplay in the first. Junior
D'Erricka Frierson accounted for six kills in the first stanza, causing the greatest point gap to reach
ten by set's end. With
OBU committing just three errors in comparison to SWOSU's six, the Bison were able to out-perform the Bulldogs with an attack percentage of .353 and secure a 25-15 win.
Following their loss, SWOSU came into the second set with more bite. Taking their attack percentage from .118 to .244, the Bulldogs made their way to a 24-19 lead. The passion behind junior
Jenna West's four kills did not go unnoticed and boosted OBU to a 24-21 game. But with the six kills of SWOSU's Zoey Sparks, including the final point, the Bulldogs claimed set two, 25-21.
The third set between OBU and SWOSU was a fierce tiebreaker. The seven-kill collaboration of Frierson and junior
Avery Hellmuth overruled the Bulldogs' attempts to catch up. The green and gold scorched their way to an 11-4 advantage after an
Audrey Poupard kill. At the point, OBU was hitting a blistering .714, forcing a Bulldogs timeout.
OBU led by as many as 11points (21-10) after a block from Frierson and Hellmuth. Though the Bulldogs added six more kills to the scoreboard, by set's end, OBU secured a 25-21 win.
With a 2-1 match lead, the fourth stanza began with three consecutive kills by junior
Taneyah Brown. Though the 11-kill effort of the Bulldog's sophomores Samantha Kuzma and Taryn Galt kept SWOSU's greatest point gap at four, OBU showed a desire at the end, getting a couple of kills by Hellmuth and match-closing block assist from Hellmuth and Frierson to secure the match.
With this, OBU bumped its record to 8-8 with the Bulldogs running theirs to 5-8.
Next on the schedule for the Bison is another home match on Sept. 22 against the Southern Nazarene Storm at 7:00 p.m.
