Ouachita Baptist battled through adversity and showed plenty of heart as it defeated Arkansas Tech, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the Great American Conference volleyball tournament at Bank OZK Arena Thursday night.
âI knew when we played at Tech, they beat us in three,â said Tigers head coach Allison Frizzell-Kizer. âWhen they played at our place, we beat them in three. When it comes to a tournament, itâs anybodyâs game. Theyâre not a team that quits; weâre not a team that quits, so honestly, I was expecting it to go four or five. I think our hearts just played out of our chests tonight.â
The first set saw five ties but just lead change as Arkansas Tech took an early 6-3 lead, but the Tigers knotted the score at 11, setting up the majority of the setâs back-and-forth points. The Golden Suns pulled within 22-19 before OBU closed out the set on a 3-1 run for the 25-21 win.
The Golden Suns took an early 6-0 lead in the second set, forcing Frizzell-Kizer to call a timeout to get her team going in the right direction, but after the Tigers scored three in a row, Arkansas Tech hit a six-point rally for a 12-3 lead. The Tigers slowly chipped away at the Golden Sunsâ lead as they rallied to take the 25-22 win for a two-set lead.
The third set saw the two teams battle, trading points early before the Golden Suns took an 8-5 lead. OBU battled back to knot the score at 9, leading to another series of traded points by the two teams. The Golden Suns battled back from a pair of set points to take the 26-24 win and force a fourth.
It was a back-and-forth affair early in the fourth set, but Arkansas Tech hit a seven-point run to pull to a 20-13 lead before forcing a fifth set with a 25-18 win.
"What we've talked about a lot in this locker room and with this team is that adversity is in the theme of the riff raff," said Arkansas Tech head coach Kera Dukic. "One thing I never doubt is whether or not they're going to push to battle through it. I didn't really doubt it. In years past, they've battled through adversity; they've battled through being down and winning some incredible matches."
Adrianna Nolly had a pair of big kills to set the Tigers on the right track in the deciding fifth set as OBU rolled to a 6-3 lead. Late in the set, Dukic challenged what would have been the match point, seeing a touch before the ball went out of bounds.
"I was a little concerned though," she admitted. "I was trying not to get my team too amped up about winning it because I knew the camera angles are a little bit difficult. Sometimes they can't see it. I was trying to remain positive and calm."
The call was overturned, sparking a three-point run by the Golden Suns, but the Tigers held on to win, 25-11, setting up the late semifinal against Harding tonight at 6 p.m.
âThereâs a fine line for every individual, a balance of focus and fun,â Frizzell-Kizer said. âEach girl has a different mind, so I have to learn where that line is for each girl. ⊠I knew I couldnât be too serious, how I normally am. I had to balance it out with being a little more fun and loose.:
Arkansas Techâs Hunter Eshnaur and Allie Anderson dominated the match with Eshnaur tallying 24 kills and Anderson 23. Ten different players got their hands on the ball on the Golden Sunsâ back line to combine for 65 digs, led by Meredith Darnellâs 19. Eshnaur also had 10. Emily Acker led the team with 16 assists.
Nolly dominated the net for the Tigers, picking up 24 kills. Katie Camp tallied 17, and Tabatha Huckabee had 11. Julianna Mack led the back row with 17 digs, Shannon Hogan added 15 and Stormi Leonard had 12. Leonard also ended up with 59 assists.
No. 1 Harding def. No. 8 NWOSU, 3-2
Thursdayâs third GAC quarterfinal match looked more like a championship game as top-seeded Harding eked out a 3-2 win over the eighth-seeded Northwestern Oklahoma State at Bank OZK Arena Thursday evening.
The two teams tied each other 33 times and exchanged the lead 18 times in the five-set match, with seven ties and three lead changes in the first set alone. The Lady Rangers took an early 8-5 lead, thanks to a five-point rally capped by an ace by Tobi Barker, but the Lady Bisons rolled on a 9-2 rally to take a 14-10 lead, stretching to a 20-15 lead before a kill by NWOSUâs Kaydee Honeycutt slowed Hardingâs run. Harding closed out the set on a five-point run for the 25-17 win.
âIn tournament play, you never know whatâs going to happen,â said Harding head coach Meredith Fear. âWhen an Oklahoma team matches up with an Arkansas team, you only get to see them once. So maybe they had a bad match, or you had a bad match. ⊠I think it caught us off-guard. I think maybe we thought maybe weâd get through it a little bit easier.â
Both teams struggled to take a dominant lead in the second set with neither taking more than a three-point lead before Honeycuttâs kill gave the Lady Rangers a 25-22 win.
âI felt like we had a great gameplan for them,â Lady Rangers head coach Jeremy White said. âIt worked when we were executing, and a lot of times we failed to do that, and it cost us, especially in Set 4. ⊠I didnât expect that it would be a five-set match, but I did believe that we did have a chance to make it that way.â
Harding took an early four-point lead in the third set, holding the lead for much of the set until a block by Jennifer Eubanks kicked off a five-point rally to give the Lady Rangers a 15-14 lead. The two teams kept it close for the remainder of the set until NWOSU closed out the set on a 4-1 run for a 25-21 win.
âWeâve been down 1-2 and come back and won in five a couple times this season. So that actually worked in our favor,â Fear said. âHaving a group with a lot of upperclassmen, theyâve got a lot of experience to pull on. They donât get nervous.â
NWOSU took control of the fourth set early, cruising to a 7-3 lead, but Harding hit a 8-1 run to take a 10-8 lead. The Lady Rangers never got within three points as the Lady Bisons cruised to a 25-16 win to force a deciding fifth set.
âI reminded them that we had a great gameplan, and thatâs exactly what we did in those two sets that we won,â White said. âIt made a huge difference because we executed the way we wanted to. ⊠We did our jobs in those two sets, and we got back to it in the fifth, and it was working. We just didnât finish with it.â
The Lady Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the two teams matched each other point-for-point for most of the rest of the set. NWOSU took a 13-12 lead late in the set, but a kill by Taylor Lake and two by Madison Poen secured the set and match. Harding will face Ouachita Baptist in the semifinal at 6 p.m. tonight.
Hannah Williams led the Lady Rangers with 15 kills and 16 digs. Eubanks had 13 kills, Honeycutt added 12 and Broklynn Hesson finished with 11. Tobi Barker led the back row with 21 digs while Dani Dagley, Cassidy Hackett and Kaitlyn Robinson tallying 11 each. Robinson also finished with 53 assists.
Harding spread the ball around with eight players adding up to the teamâs 74 kills with three in double-digits. Emma Reeves led the team with 21, Poen added 19 and Zoe Hardin had 17. The Lady Bisons also ended up with four in double-digit digs with Taylor Lake leading the team with 23. Katherine Cowart had 17, and Taylor Eubank and Poen had 16 each. Hardin also ended up with a game-leading seven blocks.
No. 2 SWOSU def. No. 7 SNU, 3-1
Although the last time Southwestern Oklahoma State faced Southern Nazarene, the Bulldogs did not end up victorious, the team recovered to take a 3-1 win after dropping the first set to the Crimson Storm in the quarterfinals of the GAC Tournament at Bank OZK Arena Thursday evening.
âI wouldnt expect anything less,â said SWOSU head coach Josh Collins. âWeâre right down the road from each other. Itâs kind of a rivalry for us, but not only that, weâve become good friends with that program.â
The two teams battled from start to finish with the No. 2 Bulldogs rallied to take a 17-12 lead, but the No. 7 Crimson Storm would not relent as a kill by Grace Miracle knotted the score at 21. Miracle gave SNU the lead with another kill as the Crimson Storm held on to take the first set, 25-23.
The Bulldogs made SNU pay for the first set as they led from start to finish, leading by as much as nine before the Crimson Storm attempted to make a comeback. SNU managed to pull within 24-20, but a service error by Bailee Turang gave the set point to SWOSU.
âI was expecting a hard-fought match,â Collins said. âA lot of times with volleyball, itâs just about who catches momentum at the right time. ⊠After that first set, I think we kind of settled in, and we started capitalizing on the things we do well. We had the momentum.â
The two teams knotted the score eight times with a pair of lead changes in the third set, but the Bulldogs took an 18-10 lead on a six-point rally. The Crimson Storm pulled within three, but SWOSU closed the set on a seven-point run, 25-15.
âWe came out and did a really good job of getting into our gameplan pretty quick,â said SNU head coach Kevin Ingram. âThey made some adjustments to what we did and what we were planning on trying to do today. ⊠We just kind of lost our ability to hold a lead or get a lead. Youâve got the lead in this game, it helps you momentum-wise to play even better.â
SNU took an early 2-1 lead in the fourth set, but SWOSU quickly rolled to an 8-2 lead that it never relinquished. The Crimson Storm could only get within four as the Bulldogs took a 25-17 win to advance to the GAC semifinals against No. 3 Henderson State today at 3:30 p.m.
âIn a rivalry game, itâs all about momentum,â Ingram said. âWe got the momentum midway through that first set, and we won it. We just never got it back on our side at any point. We never could get the lead and really take that momentum. Once they got it, they continued to build on it.â
The Crimson Storm had strong back-row play with five players in double-digit digs. Logan Matthew led the team iwht 18 while Kylie Smith had 13. Meagan Ellis and Makayla Shonamon both tallied 11 with 10 by Bailee Tourang. Smith also had a strong setting game with 40 assists in the match.
Three from SNU were in double-digit kills, led by Ellis with 16. Tourang and Kayla Thomas both added 10.
The Bulldogs had a strong offensive performance with a total of 60 kills spread among six players. Jenny Tackett led the team with 15 while Elizabeth McVicker and Emily Holm had 12 kills each and Danusia Sipa Borgeaud adding 11.
Allie Hoang had 52 of the teamâs 57 assists, and she also played well on the back row with 14 digs. Kaitlyn Dillon led the back row with 28 digs, and Borgeaud finished with 12.