TAMPA, FL – Oklahoma Baptist volleyball swept Francis Marion to finish off a four-match trip in Florida on Saturday, Sept. 5 at the Tampa Volleyball Classic. The Bison (7-2) overcame early deficits in all three sets to defeat the Patriots (4-3) and complete the trip with a 2-2 record.
In the first set, Francis Marion led 14-13 before OBU mounted a 6-1 run to grab its first lead of the set (19-15) and held off the Patriots to pick up a 25-19 first-set win on
Elle Parisi's service ace.
The Bison found themselves behind again early in the second set (8-4) but eventually battled back to tie things up at 21-21 thanks to a 5-0 run late in the set. Facing set point, Oklahoma Baptist reeled off three points in a row to win the second, 26-24, on another ace from Parisi.
The third set saw the Bison fall behind again (12-9) before mounting a 6-1 run to take a 15-13 lead. The teams traded points until a 4-0 run by the Patriots made it 22-19, but OBU ended the set on a 6-1 run to grab a 25-23 third-set win on
Mackenzie Frazee's kill.
Oklahoma Baptist hit just .165, but was incredible at the service line with 10 total aces.
Rylee Unruh (13),
Melody Donegan (9), and M. Frazee (8) led the Bison in kills, while
Emily Boyer had 25 assists and Parisi tallied 15 digs. Unruh also added four aces to her stat line.
NOTES
• Oklahoma Baptist finished the week with a 3-2 record, including a pair of wins over ranked foes (#15 Central Oklahoma and #17 Missouri-St. Louis).
• The Bison were 2-2 on their Florida trip, with wins over UMSL and Francis Marion.
• The four teams that OBU faced in Florida were all first-time opponents.
• Head coach
Anna Howle picked up her 443rd career win on Saturday, and needs just seven more to hit 450 for her career.
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Emily Boyer finished the week with 2,625 career assists and 132 service aces. She needs five aces to tie OBU's career record and six to become the program's all-time leader.
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Rylee Unruh finished the Florida trip with 974 career kills and 1,043 career digs. She needs 26 kills to join the 1,000-kill/1,000-dig club.
• OBU's 10 service aces were its second double-digit ace performance in three matches.
UP NEXT
The Bison open conference play on Tuesday, Sept. 8 against Southeastern Oklahoma State before facing Fort Hays State, Emporia State, and Pittsburg State when it hosts the GAC-MIAA Crossover on Sept. 10-11 at the Noble Complex.
