SHAWNEE – Bison Volleyball ended their home season with a loss on Senior Night.
The green and gold hosted the Tigers from East Central for OBU's Senior Night. The achievements of
Avery Hellmuth,
Laney Draper and
Kenedy Houchin were highlighted to open up the evening.
The Bison ended the night with 72.0 points, 64 kills, three aces, five blocks, 58 assists and 85 digs.
Rylee Unruh led OBU with 17 kills. Houchin finished with 16 kills on the night and
Jill Leslie tallied 12. Hellmuth, Leslie and Unruh each added an ace for the home team. Leslie led the green and gold with three blocks while Hellmuth contributed a couple and
Emily Boyer one as well. Boyer tallied 47 assists on the night.
Lauren Safrit totaled 19 digs, Boyer 18, and
Karsyn Hunter 17 on the evening.
Set 1
The opening set saw 11 ties with only two lead changes. The Tigers started off strong consistently leading by a point or two. At 12-10, Unruh began a three-score run with a kill as Houchin laid down a kill as well and Leslie served an ace to see the green and gold's first lead. The next three points tied but kills from Hellmuth and Leslie put the Bison back in from by a couple. The lead didn't last long as four points came across for ECU for a 19-17 lead. OBU got right back to business, taking a pair of points to tie things up again at 19-a-piece. Each team tallied 20, but the visitors took the next four points to see the Tigers at set point. Unruh came in with the final point of the set for the Bison with a kill but an ECU shot closed out the set at 25-21.
Set 2
In the second frame, the Bison were first on the board after an error from the visitors. With nine ties leading to a 9-9 scoreboard, the Tigers jumped out in front with a kill. OBU responded with four points for a 13-10 advantage. Houchin hit mark 14 for the green and gold. A trio of points came across for the visitors, knotting things up at 14-14. Another couple of ties led to a an even 16 points across the board. Hellmuth and
Allie Stricker got to work with a kill each to reclaim the lead. A Tiger kill made it a one-point set but the Bison went on a quick 5-0 run for a 23-17 lead with kills from Stricker, Houchin and Leslie, accompanied by a pair of visitor errors. ECU added two more points but Leslie answered with a kill for set point. Another couple of points were tallied for the orange and black but Unruh secured the final point for OBU for a 25-21 final.
Set 3
The Tigers opened up the third stanza with a kill. Three points came across for OBU to take the lead. Kills from Leslie (1) and Houchin (2) and a block from Leslie sponsored a 7-2 lead for the green and gold. Hellmuth came in with the 15
th point for the Bison but the Tiger found their footing with a 6-0 run to close the gap to three points. Both teams continued the upward trend but as one point came across for OBU, two came across for ECU, seeing a tie at 18. The following five points tied, until a kill and an ace from the visitors closed out the set at 25-23.
Set 4
Hellmuth put the Bison on the board first with a kill to open the fourth set. A block from Safrit and Hellmuth put OBU up, 2-0. A couple of points came in for ECU to even the score. Six ties followed but an error from the Tigers gave the green and gold the advantage and Hellmuth tallied a kill to see the Bison up 11-9. OBU was first to 13 but the three-score run gave the lead to the visitors by one point. Unruh took the next two points for the home team with back-to-back kills. A couple of Tiger points followed to put the orange and black ahead by one. The next couple of points tied until a 3-0 run for ECU put the visitors ahead 20-17. An error from the Tigers added the 18
th point for OBU. The next three points went to ECU for a 23-18 total. Senior, Houchin, laid down her final kill in Noble to put up the last point for the Bison. A fatal pair of Tiger kills closed out the night at 25-19 for the visitors.
Next up
Up next for OBU Volleyball is a road trip to Alva to take on Northwestern Oklahoma State for the final regular season match. Thursday's game will see a 6 p.m. start as regular season comes to a close. Following the match against NWOSU, the green and gold will make their way to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the 2024 GAC Volleyball Tournament. Tournament play will begin Nov. 21 and the 23
rd of Nov. will see a ne
