Alva Review-Courier -

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Lady Bison held a block party at the net which keyed the squad's third straight victory of the week, 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-22), over Henderson State to move to 6-1 in Great American Conference contests this season. It was Oklahoma Baptist's third win in four days.

An efficient first set saw Oklahoma Baptist swing .211 to claim a 25-18 victory. The Lady Bison came out aggressively, opening up an 8-1 run thanks to a pair of service aces by Kynnedy Myers and kills by Cadyn Laingthat were coupled with four attack errors by the Reddies. Oklahoma Baptist continued to capitalize on HSU errors, as the Lady Bison picked up four blocks, including three total blocks by Shekinah Sharpe.Sophia Couto scored a kill off the dish from Myers that pushed the match to set point, and the 10th error in the set by Henderson State gave OBU the 1-0 lead in the match. The Lady Bison only recorded two errors in the set.

Neither team could gain much traction in the second set. Keeping within a point through most of the set, OBU finally found some breathing room at 17-15, thanks to a block by Myers and Couto that was followed up by a Sharpe score. However, the Lady Bison found themselves trailing 22-20 deep in the set, prompting a timeout from OBU head coach Anna Howle. The move worked, as Oklahoma Baptist won the first three points out of the break and forced an HSU timeout. Henderson State's timeout wouldn't be nearly as successful, as OBU continued the run with a kill by Nicole Fleitman. Darby Macleaput the finishing touches on the rally with a service ace to give OBU the set 25-20, and a 2-0 lead.

Oklahoma Baptist hopped out in front quickly in the third set, 4-1, following another ace by Maclea and kills by Laing and Sharpe. However, Henderson State countered with a run of their own to claim a 9-7 lead. Howle again called timeout, and just like in the second set, the move worked as OBU ripped off a 6-1 run, capped by a Laing score, to lead 13-10. The Lady Bison's lead would balloon to 21-15 following a pair of HSU attack errors. Though the Reddies would pull within one deep in the set with the score 23-22, Laing stopped the run to bring the contest to match point before Sharpe wisely pulled out of a dig for another Reddies error to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.

"We had a great start to the match with a couple of great serves from Kynnedy," said Howle. "Shekinah had a spectacular night defensively, and Cadyn attacked extremely well.

"Henderson has a very good right-side hitter and we did an excellent job containing her. We are excited to head back to OBU and support our football and cheer teams tomorrow, as well as play in front of our awesome fans next week!"

Laing was flawless on the attack, leading the team with seven kills against zero errors for a .438 hitting percentage. Sharpe and Couto tied for second on the team with six kills as six Lady Bison had at least four kills. Myers tallied 20 assists in a winning effort.

On defense, Sharpe paced the team with 16 digs. Sierra VeraCruz was second amongst Lady Bison with 13, and Maclea had 10. Oklahoma Baptist out-blocked Henderson State 11-2, led by Couto with six total blocks, while Fleitman set a season high with five stops. The Lady Bison forced HSU into 31 errors, their season-high for three sets and the second-most this season overall, while allowing the Reddies to hit just .065 for the match.

Oklahoma Bapitst (12-8, 6-1 GAC) returns to action next Thursday, Oct. 13 when they welcome Southern Arkansas to the Noble Complex at 7 p.m.