LAKELAND, FL – Oklahoma Baptist volleyball rallied from a two-set deficit to force a fifth set, but ultimately could not complete the comeback in a 3-2 loss to Florida Southern on Thursday, Sept. 3 at Jenkins Field House.

The Bison (5-1) fell for the first time this season, while the Moccasins (3-1) bounced back from a loss to then #16 Missouri last weekend.

Rylee Unruh passed 1,000 digs for her career by posting 15 on the night. She fell just one dig shy of hitting the career milestone in the Sept. 1 home victory over #15 Central Oklahoma.

OBU actually held a 19-16 advantage late in the first set, but the Mocs scored seven of the next eight points to take a 23-20 lead en route to a 25-22 first-set win.

Florida Southern built an early five-point lead in the second set before the Bison fought back to tie it at 24-24, but a kill and service ace by FSC gave it a second-set win of 26-24.

Trailing 14-12 in the third set, OBU ripped off an 8-1 run to grab a 19-15 lead and held off a late FSC rally to earn a 25-21 win and close the overall gap to 2-1.

In the fourth set, the lead would change hands several times before Oklahoma Baptist scored three in a row to earn a 25-22 fourth-set win and send the match to a decisive fifth set.

The Moccasins dominated the early stages of the final set by grabbing an 8-0 lead, and the Bison never recovered in a 15-5 fifth-set loss.

Unruh led all players with 16 kills, while Emily Boyer had a match-high 37 assists, and Addison Dale tallied a career-high eight blocks. The Bison hit .166 to Florida Southern's .216 and recorded nine aces to FSC's seven.

NOTES

• Oklahoma Baptist fell to 0-1 all-time against Florida Southern.
• Unruh finished the night with 1,014 career digs and 940 career kills, needing just 60 kills to get to the 1,000/1,000 club.
• Boyer has 2,552 career assists and needs 448 to become just the second player in program history with 3,000 career assists.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma Baptist will face #17 Missouri-St. Louis and #4 Tampa on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Tampa Volleyball Classic. The Bison will finish the weekend against Francis Marion on Saturday, Sept. 5 to cap off their four-match trip to Florida.