SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will take an 11-4 overall record and 3-0 GAC mark to Alva on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. conference contest against Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Rangers are off to a 3-11 start which includes a 1-2 league record.
OBU leads the all-time series with Northwestern 17-4 and have won eight of 10 all-time D2 matchups in Alva.
Of note, the green and gold will be looking to start 4-0 in GAC play for just the fourth time since joining the league in 2016. In two of those seasons – 2019 and the spring 2021 campaign – OBU later became conference champions.
Here are notes on both teams.
Bison Notes
- OBU downed SNU and SWOSU by 3-0 and 3-1 scores, respectively, last week.
- Through a trio of GAC matches, the Bison are the conference leader in hitting percentage (.232) and kills per set (13.23).
- Plus, the Bison's defense is second in opponent hitting percentage (.155) and third in blocks (2.29 p/s).
- Senior Karsyn Hunter earned the GAC's Defensive Player of the Week honor on Sept. 29. She had a career-high 29 digs against the Bulldogs.
- Hunter ranks sixth in the GAC in digs per set (4.33).
- Outside hitter Rylee Unruh is the GAC leader with 31 aces. She's also fourth with 152 kills.
- Unruh, through three GAC contests, is also hitting .292, a team-best.
- Teammate Allie Stricker is having a fine season too, totaling a team-high 159 kills. That mark is third in the league.
- Rounding out OBU's top individual marks, Emily Boyer is seventh in the GAC averaging 5.98 assists per set while Mackenzie Frazee is third with 1.23 blocks per set.
Rangers Notes
- Northwestern is off to a slow start, especially offensively. They are tenth out of 12 conference schools in hitting percentage (.157) and 11th in kills (10.02).
- Ece Ozdemir is NWOSU's highest-ranked hitter at 12th in kills (2.88).
- Passing has been an issue, too, for the Rangers. With a 9.14 assists-per-set average, that ranks 11th in the league.
- Mikayla White leads that front with a 7.16 per-set average. She has the fourth-most assists (365) in the GAC which also slots her 56th in D2.
- Defensively, NWOSU ranks next to last in opponent hitting percentage (.248) and 12th in digs per set (13.16).
