DURANT – Redshirt sophomore
Jill Leslie poured in a career-high 19 kills with a .533 attack mark to help Oklahoma Baptist win 3-0 on Thursday against Southeastern Oklahoma State. OBU won for the 11th time in the last 13 matches and improved to 17-8 overall. They also stayed in a tie for first in the Great American Conference with two regular-season matches left.
Key Leaders
- Leslie was sensational besting her previous career-best in kills (15) which she had attained twice earlier this season.
- After Thursday's league results, Leslie is the only player in the GAC to rank top-ten in hitting, kills, blocks and points.
- Rylee Martin handed out 23 assists to lead the Bison.
- Maci Langford and Lauren Safrit were marvelous defensively pulling in 21 and 20 digs, respectively.
- D'Erricka Frierson and Avery Hellmuth each tallied seven kills and combined for nine block assists.
First Set
The Bison defense was solid collecting 21 digs on 45 SE attempts and registering 3.0 total blocks. They also held SE to a .089 attack mark. Leslie led with five kills while Martin added eight assists. There were several strong spurts for the green and gold throughout. OBU trailed 3-0 before reeling off an 8-0 run and later, with the score reading 14-13 Savage Storm, the Bison hit a 6-1 run. The latter stretch was the clincher. Towards the end, Hellmuth had a block and kill to help the Bison win 25-19.
Second Set
OBU's offense was very good in the second as it hit .293. Leslie delivered a team-high six kills while four more notched multiple points. Early on, the Bison were nursing a 9-7 advantage before they scored nine of the next 12. A Frierson and Leslie block bumped OBU's lead to 14-8 which forced a SE timeout. Out of the break, the Bison scored the next four of six points capped off by a Frierson kill to make it 18-10. By the end, OBU won 25-20.
Abrey Galt notched seven assists in the frame to aid the team.
Third Set
The Savage Storm did a lot to push the match to a fourth set, however, the Bison prevailed 25-23. Competition was close in the middle stages as Maci Morrison's kill tied things up at 14. But like it had done in the previous sets, OBU connected several points together to get the cushion it needed. Leslie and Frierson keyed a 5-1 stretch with multiple kills which moved the Bison's lead to 21-16. Southeastern pulled to within one a couple of times after that but couldn't get over the hump.
On The Horizon
Next week, the Bison will close their regular season with home matches against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Nov. 6 and Southern Nazarene on Nov. 9, each at 7 p.m.
