ADA – Oklahoma Baptist rallied for a five-set win at East Central on Tuesday in Great American Conference play. With the result, and loss by Harding to Ouachita, the Bison are now in a three-way tie for first place in the league standings with three matches to go until the postseason.
Key Leaders
- D'Erricka Frierson played a pivotal role with a season-best 17 kills and team-high .318 attack mark.
- Rylee Martin handed out 34 assists and added 14 digs.
- One remarkable stat: three Bison recorded at least 20 digs: Lauren Safrit with 20, Jenna West with a career-high 25 and Maci Langford with 31.
- Safrit also registered a team-high four block assists.
- The entire Bison team deserved credit for pulling this one out after hitting just .166. Coming into the match, OBU was 1-6 this season when connecting at .200 or less.
First Set
Before the Bison pulled ahead late, the host Tigers and visitors battled to nine ties. The last of those came at 13-all following a Bison attack error. Despite that miscue, the green and gold scored four straight including kills by Frierson and ace by
Jill Leslie. That stretch gave OBU the cushion it needed as it won 25-21.
Second Set
After hitting a respectable .294 in the opening stanza, the Bison attack fell off significantly in the second. In fact, they hit -.056. That really came into factor late. Following
Avery Hellmuth's kill that made the tally 17-16 ECU, the Tigers closed with an 8-1 run. Three of those points, the last three, all came courtesy Bison attack error. Additionally, there were two aces by ECU. By the end, the Bison had seven kills and seven attack errors.
Third Set
ECU held a 20-14 kills advantage en route to a 25-22, third-set victory. Three different Tigers recorded five kills as well in Odalys Gonzalez, Ashleigh Miller and Emma Strickland. Like the previous stanza, East Central broke off on a late run to win. Tied at 18, the hosts scored five straight which included a pair of kills by Strickland.
Fourth Set
Things did not look good for the Bison as they trailed 23-19. However, the Tigers couldn't put OBU away. Three straight points followed for the green and gold including a block by Safrit and Leslie which brought the tally to 23-22. ECU got the next point before the Bison staved off defeat with Frierson tying the set at 24-all with back-to-back kills. The Tigers led one more time at 25-24, but the Bison followed with three consecutive points which included two ECU miscues to prevail 27-25.
Fifth Set
It was all Bison in the fifth and final stanza. Oklahoma Baptist got off to a great start and secured a 9-3 advantage following a point by Safrit. She ended up with four kills in the fifth while Hellmuth had two block assists. Plus, Frierson provided the match-clinching point at the end to make it 15-8.
On The Horizon
The Bison will remain on the road on Nov. 2 when they play Southeastern Oklahoma State.
