OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University derailed Oklahoma Baptist 24-26, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 16-14 on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena as the Stars notched their first win over a ranked volleyball opponent this year.
OCU (11-5, 4-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference) halted Oklahoma Baptist's seven-match win streak and forged a tie with the Lady Bison atop the SAC standings. Oklahoma Baptist (13-7, 4-1 SAC) entered the match ranked 16th in the NAIA.
In the fifth set, OCU opened up a 5-1 advantage on Rupia Inck's attack error. Oklahoma Baptist came back to forge 7-7, 8-8 and 10-10 ties.
Oklahoma Baptist picked up four points in a row as Sabra Clark and Kristin Pressley had back-to-back kills. Xiaoting Ma and Vicky Murphy rallied the Stars with consecutive kills to tie the set 12-12.
Skyler Strahm answered with a kill for Oklahoma Baptist. The Lady Bison reached match point after Ma's attack error.
Ma kept OCU alive with a kill, then Inck knocked the ball out of bounds to tie the set 14-14. Clark committed a ball-handling error to bring up match point, and Inck's attack error finished off the match.
“This match was a battle,” OCU coach Jen Gomez said. “We knew we were in for a fight. We had talked about picking up our intensity, and we did a good job of maintaining that throughout the match. I was proud of our kids.”
Ma, a senior from Dalian, China, recorded 15 kills and 27 digs, while Murphy, a junior from Spring, Texas, knocked down 15 kills for OCU. Raissa Santos added 12 kills, 22 digs, two blocks and two aces for the Stars.
Danielle Robison put together 30 assists, nine digs and three aces, and Samantha Ball added 26 assists and 11 digs for OCU. Torrie Flynn tallied nine kills and three blocks, and Alex Benbrook chipped in eight kills and eight blocks as OCU combined for 12 blocks.
Inck rang up a match-high 25 kills to go with 19 digs, and Clark had 51 assists and 15 digs for Oklahoma Baptist.
“I thought we did a good job distributing the ball,” Gomez said. “We did the best we could to contain Rupia, but she still had a good game. Our defense was awesome, and our blocking came around.”
Oklahoma Baptist overcame 11 ties in taking the first set. Inck set up set point at 24-23, but recorded a service error to tie the set 24-24. Santos had a service error of her own, but Cami Weimer set down an ace to take the first frame for the Lady Bison.
In the second set, Oklahoma Baptist rallied from a 16-12 deficit to tie the set 23-23. OCU answered as Benbrook, Ma and Murphy teamed on a block to bring up set point. Murphy nailed down a kill to win the set for the Stars.
In the fourth set, OCU built a 13-8 edge using two Ma kills sandwiched around a Flynn block. The Stars maintained their advantage until Ma pounded down a kill to force the fifth set.
OCU meets Cameron at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Lawton, Okla.
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