ALVA, OK – A dominant defensive effort, paired with one of Rylee Unruh's best performances of the season, propelled Oklahoma Baptist volleyball to a 3-0 sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at Percefull Fieldhouse.

The victory gives the Bison (22-5, 14-1 GAC) the outright Great American Conference regular-season title and completes the season sweep of the Rangers (10-20, 3-12).

Although Northwestern remained within striking distance through a good portion of the first set, OBU used a 6-0 run to turn a a two-point advantage into an eight point lead (21-13) and finished things out when Unruh laid down one of her match-high 16 kills for a 25-16 first-set win.

The second set saw the Bison fall behind early and trail by as many as five points (20-15) late in the set. After narrowing the gap to three points (22-19), Oklahoma Baptist reeled off a 6-1 run to complete the comeback for a 25-23 second-set win.

In the third and final set OBU jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never trailed en route to a 25-19 match-clinching win. The Bison used a 5-1 run in the middle of the set to increase their lead from 14-11 to 19-12 and scored their final three points on two kills from Emily Kate Jones and the match-clincher from Unruh.

Unruh tallied 16 kills and 13 digs while hitting a blistering .412 on the attack. Emily Boyer led all players with 40 assists, while Elle Parisi had 17 digs and Mackenzie Frazee added five total blocks. Taya McReynolds contributed nine kills, while Addison Dale added seven of her own.

As a team, the Bison hit .194 while holding the Rangers to just .093. Oklahoma Baptist finished with an 8-1 advantage in service aces, but was outblocked by Northwestern 12-7.

NOTES

• Oklahoma Baptist improved to 23-6 all-time against Northwestern Oklahoma State, including a 21-4 advantage in the Division II era.
• The Bison extended their winning streak over the Rangers to seven straight matches, and have swept the regular-season series in three straight seasons.
• Unruh recorded her 18th kill-dig double-double of the season, and has recorded double-digit kills and digs in each of her last six matches.
• Boyer recorded 40 or more assists for the 12th time this season. She has now gone three straight matches with at least 40 assists.
• OBU's victory over Northwestern clinched the outright GAC regular-season title for the Bison. It is their fifth regular-season championship since 2019.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma Baptist closes out the regular season against East Central at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Noble Complex. The Bison will recognize their six seniors prior to the evening's competition. OBU's next match comes in the first round of next week's GAC Tournament in Enid. Oklahoma Baptist will face the eight seed at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Stride Bank Center.