ALVA, Oklahoma – Two career milestones were hit as the Ouachita volleyball earned a five-set win over the Rangers of Northwestern Oklahoma State Thursday night on the road.
Head Coach
Allison Frizzell-Kizer earned career win No. 100 with tonight's 3-2 victory. Frizzell-Kizer is the third coach in program history to reach the 100-win mark.
Courtney Hanson recorded her 3,000th career kill in the win. The junior is now the fifth Tiger in program history to hit the 3000-assist mark and ranks fifth all-time in career assists at Ouachita.
Set Scores: 19-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-17, 15-13
Ouachita (15-7, 6-4 GAC) fell behind Northwestern Oklahoma State (11-10, 5-5 GAC) to start the Thursday-night match. The Tigers caught back up and traded blows with the Rangers over the first part of the set. After Ouachita took a one-point lead, NWOSU scored 11 straight points to go up 23-13. The Tigers tried to get back into the set with a 6-1 run, but the Rangers kept their lead and won the first set 25-19.
The Tigers came out re-energized for set two and jumped out to a 7-1 lead over Northwestern. Ouachita kept up the pace and expanded its lead out to double digits with a score of 16-6. The Tigers stayed in the driver's seat for the remainder of the set and cruised to a 25-13 win to tie the match.
Northwestern used a 6-0 run to take early control of the third set. However, the Tigers did not go away easily and began chipping away at the deficit point-by-point. A late 7-1 Ouachita run tied the set at 20-20. After trading the next few points, it was the Rangers that came out on top 25-23, and the Tigers fell behind in the match 2-1.
Set four saw the Tigers score eight of the first nine points. Ouachita pushed its lead to a set-high eight points a few serves later. From there, the Tigers kept the Rangers at bay over the rest of the set. Ouachita did not allow NWOSU to score more than two points in a row and comfortably took the fourth set 25-17, once again tying the match 2-2 and forcing a decisive set five.
It looked like Northwestern was going to take control early in set five, starting with a 4-1 lead. But the Tigers found a spark and rattled off nine straight points to go up 10-4. Just when it looked like Ouachita was going to run away with things, the Rangers put together a 7-0 run of their own to take a 12-11 lead. The Tigers and Rangers traded the next few points to tie the set 13-13. The Tigers were ready to call game and hit back-to-back kills to close out the set 15-13 and earn the 3-2 match win.
Tonight's win is the fourth in a row for Ouachita and puts the Tigers alone in fifth place and just three games out of first with six regular season games remaining.
Emily Adams led the offense with 20 kills on a .436 hitting percentage. This was Adam's second 20-kill performance of the season.
Kailey Thedford was the only other Tiger to hit double-digit kills with 11.
Speaking of Thedford, the Pearland, Texas native led the front-row defense with a career-high five blocks.
Hanson only needed 18 assist to hit the 3,000-assist mark, but the Arlington, Texas native handed out 40 of them. This marks the junior's 10th game this season with at least 40 assists.
Riley Braziel led the back row with a season-high 20 digs.
Avery Jauz and
Kylie Kisgen were next with 15 digs each. Braziel tied with
Leah Gardner for the match-lead in aces with three apiece.
The Tigers will look to keep the momentum on their side tomorrow when they take on the first-place Bulldogs on Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday, October 25 at 4 p.m. in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
