BETHANY, Oklahoma – The Ouachita volleyball team earned its sixth straight victory on Thursday night in a come-from-behind four-set road win over Southern Nazarene.
SNU won the first set 25-17, but Ouachita answered with a thrilling 31-29 win in the second, and then won the third and fourth by scores of 25-22 and 25-20.
The first set was close until SNU posted a 6-0 run to go up 18-11. Ouachita got back to within four, but the Crimson Storm held on to take the early lead in the match.
SNU looked to go up 2-0 in the match, holding set point at 25-22 in the second frame, but the Tigers rallied back with three straight to force extra points. Neither team was able to win three in a row in the late back-and-forth battle until
Sophie Henry and
Kailey Thedford posted back-to-back kills to force set point. An SNU attack error evened the match at 1-1.
The Tigers pulled away late in the third set, highlighted by a 9-2 come-from-behind run that gave Ouachita a 24-21 set point.
Ruby Farris had a pair of kills at the end to put the Tigers up 2-1 in the match.
After a brief exchange early in the fourth set, the Tigers maintained the lead for the most of the fourth set and finished with three straight points, including kills from
Leah Gardner and
Sophie Henry.
Henry led the Tigers with 15 kills and four total blocks.
Kylie Craven added 14 kills.
Kailey Thedford finished with a double-double of 11 kills and a career-high 20 digs.
Mack Bidwell registered 38 assists in the win and picked up nine digs.
Kylah Manthe also tallied double digits in assists with a career-high 11.
Kylie Kisgen led the back row with 21 digs for her fifth match of the year with at least 20.
The Tigers now turn their attention to league-leading Oklahoma Baptist with a match against the Bison on Friday at 3 p.m. in Shawnee. OKBU is 10-0 in Great American Conference matches this season. Ouachita is in second place at 8-2.
