SHAWNEE – Outside of a close ending in the third, Oklahoma Baptist steamrolled Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday, winning 3-0. The victory was OBU's fourth in a row and it improved the team's record to 10-8 and 4-1 in the league.
For the Rangers, they dropped to 9-6 and 3-2 in the GAC.
Four different Bison players hit at least .310, led by
Jill Leslie's .529 attack mark. Leslie notched nine kills while
D'Erricka Frierson came up with a game-high 14 kills and nine digs. Plus,
Avery Hellmuth (9) and
Audrey Poupard (6) combined for 15 kills.
Abrey Galt and classmate
Rylee Martin went for 23 and 20 assists, respectively, while defensively,
Maci Langford and
Jenna West each recorded at least 11 digs.
OBU set the mood for essentially for the entire match with a hot start in the first. A block assist by Hellmuth and Poupard made the tally 13-5 and forced a Northwestern timeout. At that point, the Bison were hitting .600 while the Rangers were at a dismal .000. Leslie had four kills in the set to lead the green and gold to a 25-18 win.
A set later, the Bison were even more dominant. With the scoreboard reading 3-3, OBU scored five of the next six points to seize command. Hellmuth had a pair of kills in that stretch as the hosts went up, 8-4. That fazed Northwestern who never got within three points the rest of the way. It didn't help either that the Rangers' offense hit just .029.
In the third, OBU led 23-17 after a Frierson kill, but remarkably, Northwestern came back. In fact, the Rangers scored six in a row to tie at 23. Despite a little struggle at the end, the Bison closed the deal on a brilliant kill from Galt and then a West kill.
OBU will be back in action on Sept. 29 when it hosts Henderson State at 6 p.m.
