HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oklahoma Baptist met Henderson State for the Great American Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday. The first two sets were extremely closely played, but the Bison gained momentum and won the next two, capturing their third GAC Tournament title and first since the altered spring season of 2021.
The Bison now move on to the NCAA Division II Tournament after earning the GAC's automatic bid. This will be the second time in program history that the green and gold will have competed in the NCAA's championship. More info will come on Monday, Nov. 20.
Key Leaders
Jill Leslie, the tourney MVP, tied her career-high with 19 kills through the four sets.
Avery Hellmuth also did well with 13 kills, and
D'Erricka Frierson right behind her with 12. Those two were also All-Tournament selections. As a team, the Bison dialed up 68 kills, their second-most in a four-set match this season.
Directing the OBU offense was
Abrey Galt who recorded a match-high 36 assists.
Plus,
Lauren Safrit and
Maci Langford kept Henderson at bay with 16 and 14 digs, respectively.
Jenna West also added 12 digs while freshman
Emily Boyer rang up 22 assists and 12 digs. Leslie and Safrit also performed crucial blocks throughout the sets, with Leslie totaling five and Safrit with three.
Set One
OBU trailed behind for half of the first, with Henderson maintaining leads of several points. At one point, it was 10-5 HSU. Then the Bison caught up at 19-all after a Leslie ace. After that service point, an incredible stretch followed. The four-seed Reddies wound up fending off four set points for OBU. By set's end, the Bison won 31-29, the second-longest set in GAC tourney history. West and Boyer, who provided a skip-set attack at the end, got the final two kills for their team to push OBU ahead 1-0.
Set Two
The second set was hard-fought. The Bison took an early lead, 9-6, after a West point, but were unable to extend that advantage. OBU hit a team match-low .171 in the frame. Henderson later tied the scoreboard at 13 on a Bison setting error before using a 6-0 stretch to win 25-20. In those latter points, Christiane Uzoh had a couple of kills to help Henderson tie the match.
Set Three
The set started off with both teams staying fairly in-step with each other before OBU started taking the lead. Down 8-6, the Bison scored eight of the next 10 points to gain a cushion they would never relinquish. Hellmuth had two kills while Galt and Leslie each provided aces to push OBU ahead 14-10. Henderson never pulled within two the rest of the way.
Set Four
OBU worked effectively and shut the Reddies down early. OBU raced out to an 11-point lead, 12-1, after a Safrit kill. That advantage never got under eight points the rest of the way. The Bison ended up hitting .355 in the set while the Reddies were held to a .000 mark.
On The Horizon
Stay tuned to OBUBison.com on Monday night to find out the date and opponent of the Bison's first-round NCAA Tournament matchup.
