WEATHERFORD, OK – Taya McReynolds and Rylee Unruh each tallied double-digit kills as Oklahoma Baptist volleyball swept Southwestern Oklahoma State in a Great American Conference contest on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the Pioneer Event Center.

The Bison (10-4, 2-0 GAC) set the tone early with a dominant performance in the first set to remain perfect in conference play and pick up their first road win over the Bulldogs (7-6, 1-1) since 2023.

Oklahoma Baptist jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the first set and pushed its advantage to as many as nine points (18-9) on a kill by McReynolds late in the set. The Bison would score seven of the final 10 points in the set and close things out on a Lauren Safrit kill to grab a 25-13 victory.

OBU raced out to a 12-3 lead in the second set, but a 5-1 run by SWOSU in the late stages would cut the deficit to just two (22-20). The Bison were able to settle themselves and finished off the set on a kill by Addison Dale for a 25-21 second-set win.

The most competitive set of the night was the third set, as the Bulldogs found themselves up 12-8 in the early going. Oklahoma Baptist rallied to a 16-14 lead on another kill from Dale, and the teams would go back and forth until SWOSU had set point (24-23).

That's when the Bison put the hammer down with three straight points, including a pair of kills from Unruh, to take a tightly contested 26-24 third-set win and pick up the sweep.

Unruh led all players with 19 kills, while McReynolds had 14. Elle Parisi had a match-high 18 digs, while Unruh (15) and Ellie Gehrke (10) also chipped in on defense. 

Mackenzie Frazee added six kills and five blocks. Emily Boyer notched 40 assists while adding eight digs, three kills, and one block assist.

OBU hit .284 on the night while holding SWOSU to just .170, and finished with 10 blocks to the Bulldogs' four.

NOTES

• Oklahoma Baptist improved to 32-11 all-time against Southwestern Oklahoma State, including a 19-6 mark in the Division II era.
• The Bison are now 7-5 when facing the Bulldogs in Weatherford.
• McReynold's last two performances, 15 kills vs. Pittsburg State and 14 kills at Southwestern Oklahoma State, are the top two performances of her career.
• Head coach Anna Howle picked up career win 446, putting her just four away from 450 career victories.
• The win was the 640th in program history and the 242nd of OBU's Division II era.
• Unruh's performance was her eighth double-double performance of the season.
• Safrit now has 494 career kills and 902 career digs.
• OBU reached double figures in blocks for the third time in four matches and has totaled 43 blocks during that span.
• Boyer now has 2,814 career assists, leaving her 186 from 3,000.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma Baptist returns home when it hosts Southern Nazarene on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Noble Complex. The Bison play three of their next four matches at home.