SHAWNEE – The first two sets were no problem for Oklahoma Baptist. What followed from the visiting Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers had the Bison faithful and coach
Anna Howle's team fighting for its 15th win of the year. By the end of the two-hour, three-minute match, OBU won 3-1.
Key Leaders
- Senior Jenna West posted a career-high 16 kills. She also tied her career best in digs (15).
- Jill Leslie added 12 kills, a .345 attack percentage, two solo blocks and three block assists.
- Freshman Lauren Safrit notched 11 kills and seven digs.
- Emily Boyer dished out a career-high 27 assists and registered 11 digs.
- Libero Maci Langford dialed up 18 digs while Kaelyn Ina added 10.
- As a team, OBU tallied 12 blocks, tying for its second-highest mark in 2023.
First Set
In the opening stanza, the Bison took a 25-18 win. Leslie led the team in kills with four while Safrit followed with three. Early on, OBU turned up the heat with three blocks and two aces which had them leading 13-8. The Bison ended up with a 4-1 advantage in blocks and didn't back down defensively. They held Northwestern to .049 attack mark. Nursing a 20-18 advantage, the hosts scored five straight which included three Rangers errors to end the set.
Second Set
A 10-3 run resulted in another win for OBU, this time by a 25-15 tally. The Bison led this frame in both kills and blocks with totals of 24 and six, respectively.
Rylee Martin posted a team-high seven assists while Boyer added five more. The Bison, like it did in the first, started to pull away near the middle of the stanza. Leading 10-8, West had a pair of kills while
D'Erricka Frierson added another, boosting the home team's lead to 14-8. There were also four aces in the second, including two by Martin. By the end, West secured a 10-point, third-set win with her fifth kill.
Third Set
OBU was in control, again, before a bunch of errors allowed Northwestern to get back in it. The Bison led 13-7, however, the hosts lost its touch and committed seven errors in the next few sequences while the visitors rallied. A point by Erika Asencio Soriano tied the set at 18. Later, West boosted OBU back ahead 21-18, but Soriano pulled her team even again with a couple kills. The scoreboard changed a bunch after that before Northwestern secured the final two points from Macy Shreffler and Soriano, winning 28-26.
Fourth Set
The back and forth continued in the fourth as there were 10 ties and eight lead changes.
Avery Hellmuth bumped the Bison's lead to 7-3 before the Rangers came back to knot up the scoreboard at 10 following a bad set. After that, things were close from both squads. Northwestern earned a pair of points late, on a West error and Shreffler kill, and went ahead 21-19. OBU then fought to win. Three consecutive kills from Hellmuth and West as well as an ace from Hellmuth moved the green and gold back in front 23-21. Northwestern got to within one, 24-23, but Leslie smashed a pass from Boyer for the match's final point.
On The Horizon
There are two road matches next week for OBU. On Oct. 31, it will visit East Central before a Nov. 2 date at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
