BETHANY, OK – Less than a week after seeing its 10-match win streak come to an end, Oklahoma Baptist volleyball got itself back on track with a 3-1 victory over Southern Nazarene on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at the Sawyer Center.

The Bison (20-5, 12-1 GAC) took another step toward clinching the top seed in next month's Great American Conference Tournament and also finished off the season sweep of the Crimson Storm (15-12, 7-6).

The first set of the match was tight in the early stages, but OBU was able to separate itself with a 7-1 run midway through the set to turn a 12-12 tie into a 19-13 lead. The Crimson Storm would eventually battle back to cut the deficit to just three (22-19), but the Bison scored three straight points to take the first set, 25-19, on a kill by Addison Dale.

In the second set, the teams battled back and forth throughout, with SNU clinging to a 17-16 lead in the middle portion. That's when the Crimson Storm mounted a 5-0 run to take a 22-16 lead and eventually close things out, 25-19, on Kate Wright's kill.

Oklahoma Baptist raced out to an early 6-3 lead in the third set, but Southern Nazarene battled back to eventually take the lead (12-9). The Bison would score eight of the next nine points to go in front, 20-14, and closed out the set with three points in a row to earn a 25-18 victory on a kill from Taya McReynolds.

The fourth and final set essentially saw OBU lead the entire way. The Bison were able to put together a pair of 5-1 runs during the set, and would close out the match on a kill from Mackenzie Frazee to take the set, 25-18, and earn the 3-1 victory.

After a poor hitting performance in last Thursday's loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State, the Oklahoma Baptist attack bounced back in a big way by hitting .307, the fourth-best mark of the season.

Rylee Unruh led the Bison with 19 kills, while McReynolds (13), Frazee (12), and Lauren Safrit (11) also put up double-digit kill totals. Both Unruh (25) and Safrit (11) had double-digit dig totals, as did Emily Boyer (19), and Elle Parisi (15). 

Oklahoma Baptist was solid at the service line, tallying nine aces as Unruh (3), Boyer (2), and Frazee (2) each had multiple aces. Boyer also added 56 assists on the night, falling just one shy of her school record of 57 in a four-set match (Sept. 10, 2024 vs. Ouachita Baptist).

With the victory, the Bison need one more win in their remaining three matches in order to clinch the top seed in the GAC Tournament. A pair of wins in the next three matches would give Oklahoma Baptist an outright GAC regular-season title.

NOTES

• Oklahoma Baptist improved to 41-33 all-time against Southern Nazarene, including a 22-4 record in the Division II era
• The victory was OBU's 16th win in a row over the Crimson Storm, and gives Oklahoma Baptist a season sweep of SNU for the sixth year in a row
• Unruh picked up her 16th kill-dig double-double of the season.
• She also became the seventh player in program history to tally 1,000 career kills in an OBU uniform (1,012)
• Tuesday's win gives the Bison 20 or more victories for the second year in a row, and the 13th time under head coach Anna Howle
• Unruh's three aces give her 61 for the season, while Boyer's two aces give her 151 for her career.
• The duo own the top two single-season marks for aces, Unruh with 61 this year and Boyer with 55 last year
• The pair also own the top two marks for career aces at OBU (Boyer - 151 | Unruh - 145)

UP NEXT
The Bison will host Southwestern Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, with a chance to clinch the top seed in the GAC Tournament. Oklahoma Baptist closes out the season next week with a road match at Northwestern Oklahoma State (Nov. 3) before hosting East Central (Nov. 5) in the regular-season finale.