Box Score SHAWNEE – OBU Volleyball took down the SNU Storm in a four-set match Thursday evening to claim their first win of conference play this season.
The green and gold hosted the Southern Nazarene University Storm for OBU's third conference match of the season. The evening meeting ended with the Bison on top after taking sets one, three and four. In the opening set, the green and gold secured a 25-19 final. Set two fell in favor of the visitors at 25-23. The third set saw the home team claim a close 26-24 total and the fourth set welcomed a dominate energy from the Bison with a 25-14 final to close out the evening and see OBU tack another onto the win column.
Bison Volleyball finished the evening with 72.0 points, 60 kills, 55 assists, 70 digs and a new season high of 10 aces.
Jill Leslie and
Aubree McCann led the OBU offense with 13 kills a-piece and
Avery Hellmuth contributed 12 as well.
Karsyn Hunter and
Emily Boyer each tallied three aces for the home team along with a pair from McCann. Boyer totaled 50 assists.
Rylee Unruh added 20 digs to lead the Bison.
Lauren Safrit tallied 15 digs and Boyer contributed 10. The OBU defense consisted of blocks from
Jh'Kyah Head (1) and Hellmuth (2).
Set 1
The green and gold got to work right off the bat, securing the first couple of points with a kill from Leslie and an ace from Boyer to get things started. As each team tallied a point, a three-score run saw the Storm take the lead at 4-3. From there, the set saw a total of seven ties until Leslie started a 3-0 run for OBU with a kill from
Kenedy Houchin and an ace from McCann to put the Bison up by a couple. At 14-13 in favor of the home team, Hellumuth incited a five-score run with a kill from McCann, an ace from Unruh and a pair of errors from the visitors to bring the total to 19-13. Another 3-0 run for the green and gold made for a 23-16 lead. SNU took the next three points to bring the deficit to 23-19. Head secured the final kill for the Bison and an error from the Storm closed out the set at 25-19 in favor of OBU.
Set 2
The SNU defense saw the Storm take the opening point of set two with a block. As the Bison came up with their first point, SNU went on to take the next three for a 4-1 lead. Head laid down a kill and a block from Hellmuth and Head brought the Bison total to three points. With point eight on the board for the visitors, McCann claimed two kills and Leslie laid down another to tie things up at 8-8. The Storm jumped back in the lead by a couple of points. With the green and gold down by three at 14-11, a kill from Hellmuth started a four-score run that would give the lead to the Bison by a lone point. After seven more ties, a kill for the Storm and an OBU error put SNU up by two at 24-22. Hellmuth brought in the final point for the Bison with a kill, but the Storm claimed the final kill to close out the set, 25-23.
Set 3
The green and gold got to work early in the third set, taking the first five consecutive points with kills from Leslie (2), Head (1), McCann (1) and an ace from Boyer. The visitors took the next three points to make for a two-point set at 5-3. Kills from Head and Houchin paired with an error from the Storm extended the lead for OBU at 8-5. While SNU continued to chip away at the deficit to bring the total to 9-7 for OBU, the Bison took the next three points for a 12-7 lead. The green and gold fended off the visitors well until a trio of points came in for the Storm, knotting things up at 17-17. Boyer laid down a kill to give the Bison the lead back and a pair of errors from SNU followed to bring the total to 20-17. As Unruh tallied the 21
st point for the home team with a kill, the Storm took the next three, unanswered, to take the lead at 22-21. Hellmuth tied things up with a kill and a SNU error gave the lead back to the green and gold. The 23
rd and 24
th points saw ties, but McCann laid down a kill to put the Bison in front and an attack error from the Storm sealed the deal on set three for the home team at 26-24.
Set 4
The fourth and final set saw the visitors jump out with the first lead after a kill got things moving for SNU. The lead didn't last long as the next six consecutive points went to the Bison with kills from McCann (1), Leslie (2), Head (2), and Unruh (1). The early lead ultimately set the Storm's fate, allowing the green and gold to lead throughout the remainder of the set. The rest of the set saw three 2-0 runs and two 3-0 runs for OBU. As Hellmuth and McCann each contributed kills for points 23 and 24, a last stitch effort from SNU brought in a three-score run, bringing their total to 14. McCann slammed the door on a Storm comeback with the final kill to close out the set at 25-14 and the match at 3-1, Bison.
OBU Volleyball will be back in action Tuesday as the green and gold head to Ada for a 7 p.m. battle against East Central.
