SHAWNEE – After falling behind by one set to open the match, Oklahoma Baptist volleyball rallied for three-straight set wins in a 3-1 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State to clinch the top seed in the Great American Conference Tournament and a share of the GAC regular-season title on Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Noble Complex.

The Bison (21-5, 13-1 GAC) finished off the season sweep of the Bulldogs (16-10, 9-5) to earn a share of the GAC regular season title for the fifth time in the past seven seasons, and can win an outright conference title with a win in either of their final two matches.

SWOSU looked as if it may be primed for an upset as it raced out to a 6-1 lead in the first set. OBU was able to rally to tie things at 13-13, but the Bulldogs scored four points in a row to go up by four (17-13) and hung on for a 25-20 first-set win.

Oklahoma Baptist was able to rally back in the second set by using an 11-1 run to turn an 11-10 advantage into an insurmountable eight-point lead (18-10). Southwestern pulled within two points (22-20), but the Bison scored three of the final four points of the set to earn a 25-21 second-set victory on a kill from Mackenzie Frazee.

The third set was a back-and-forth affair into the late stages, but OBU was able to mount a 7-1 run to erase a one-point deficit (18-17) and take a 24-19 en route to a 25-20 set victory on Lauren Safrit's kill from Emily Boyer.

Oklahoma Baptist fell behind early in the fourth and final set (10-8) but ripped off an 11-1 run to jump out to a 19-11 lead and never looked back. A service error by the Bulldogs' Layla Collins put things at match point, and Addison Dale put an exclamation point on the night with a thunderous kill that clinched the top seed in the GAC Tournament and a share of the conference regular-season title.

Rylee Unruh led the Bison with 18 kills while also tallying 11 digs and a match-high four aces. Frazee finished with 14 kills of her own and seven total blocks, while Taya McReynolds put down 10 kills on the night. Boyer led all players with 47 assists and added 10 digs and two aces. Elle Parisi paced the back row with a team-high 18 digs.

The Bison hit .222 on the night despite hitting just .019 in the first set. OBU hit a blistering .447 in the second set and .250 in each of the final two sets. Oklahoma Baptist finished with 11 blocks on the night.

NOTES

• Oklahoma Baptist a earned the top seed in next month's GAC Tournament and secured a share of its fifth GAC regular-season title since 2019
• A win in either of OBU's remaining two matches would clinch the outright GAC regular-season title. A pair of losses could leave the Bison tied with Harding, though OBU owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after a 3-2 win over HU in Shawnee on Oct. 1.
• Rylee Unruh recorded her 17th kill-dig double-double of the season and added four aces to extend her OBU single-season record to 65
• Emily Boyer recorded 40 or more assists for the 11th time this season, and recorded her 12th assist-dig double-double of the year
• The Bison improved to 33-11 all-time against SWOSU, including a 20-6 record in the Division II era
• OBU also picked up its third straight win against the Bulldogs and improved to 11-1 when facing Southwestern at home.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma Baptist closes out the regular season with a pair of matches next week. The Bison will travel to Northwestern Oklahoma State on Nov. 3 before hosting East Central on Nov. 5. OBU's first-round GAC Tournament match will be against the number eight seed at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Stride Bank Center in Enid.