SHAWNEE, Oklahoma – The Ouachita volleyball team had one its best seasons of all time halted on Friday with a dramatic five-set loss to Oklahoma Baptist in the semifinals of the 2025 Great American Conference Tournament.
Ouachita finishes the 2025 campaign with an overall record of 26-5, marking the second-most wins in a season in program history and the most in the NCAA era. This season's .839 winning percentage is the highest for the program in the NCAA era. Along the way this season, the Tigers were a perfect 13-0 at home and went 15-1 in GAC matches to win the league's regular season championship for the second time in program history.
Final set scores of Friday night's match were 21-25, 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, and 15-17. It was the second five-set affair between the two squads this season. The Tigers won the regular season battle on October 24 at home in Arkadelphia.
As the scores indicate, Friday's match was back-and-forth with the Bison (21-9) taking the first set. The Tigers rallied back from a 20-15 deficit to make it a one-point game, but the Bison rallied back to win five of the five seven rallies to take the match lead.
Ouachita clawed back to win the second set to even the match, using an early five-point lead to cushion a late surge from the Bison. In the third set, the Tigers used a six-point run late to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Bison came out on fire in the fourth set winning the first four rallies. The Tigers began chipping away and kept it close throughout even forcing an 18-all tie. However, Ouachita was never able to take the lead, which allowed the Bison to force the fifth set.
OKBU again had a fast start in the fifth, going up 5-1, but the Tigers roared back to tie the score at six. There were three tied scores early, but the Tigers were never able to gain a lead until a stretch of five points in six rallies went Ouachita's way, including being put up against a match-point for OKBU. Ouachita had a match-point of its own at 15-14 on an ace, but the Bison won the next three rallies to seal the victory.
Courtney Hanson went out with career-highs in assists (60) and digs (32). Senior
Emily Adams led the Tiger offensive attack with a season-high 21 kills. Junior
Kylie Kisgen had a career-high 55 digs. Senior
Riley Braziel, senior
Peyton Church, and senior
Savannah Whitaker all reached the 20-dig mark with 23, 22, and 20, respectively. Junior
Kailey Thedford and
Leah Gardner also reached double digits in kills with 16 and 13, respectively. Gardner added a match-high six blocks.
