Oklahoma team overcomes nerves, OBU
It took one set for the higher-seeded volleyball team to get going in a Great American Conference quarterfinal Thursday.
Seventh-seeded Ouachita Baptist could not keep up the early pace and fell 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21) to No. 2 seed Southern Nazarene at Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
“It was just some nerves. We had a lot of nerves,” Southern Nazarene coach Kevin Ingram said. “We had six seniors who graduated off this team from last year, so there were a lot of new ones out there. But once they settled down and got going, we were good.”
The Crimson Storm (16-16) face No. 3 seed Southwestern Oklahoma in the semifinals at 3:30 this afternoon, Southern Nazarene trying to reach the championship match for the second year in a row after losing to Arkansas Tech last fall. Ouachita finished 15-12.
GAC most valuable player Abby Pickett, an OBU senior, clinched the first set with her fifth kill.
“There’s no question Abby is that kid. I have a daughter and if she turns out like Abby Pickett, I’d be blessed,” Ouachita coach Danny Prescott said. “I’m blessed to see a young woman develop into a leader that can take over for stretches. But you have to give Southern Nazarene credit. They stepped up and took her out of it, and when they did, it took us awhile to get back into the flow of it.”
Pickett finished with 12 kills, but only one each in the final two sets.
Southern Nazarene never trailed in the second set, Lexie Matthews getting the kill for set points. She finished with a matchhigh 18 kills and 4 aces.
“Lexie had a great tournament last year, so she understands the feel and what it’s like to be here,” Ingram said. “For her to come out and play in a big position today because she had to control the MVP, (Matthews) did a good job of blocking her and helping to control what she did while she was able to be productive offensively as well.”
Southern Nazarene went up 20-8 in the third set, Matthews serving four straight points including an ace and pushing the advantage to double digits at 14-4.
“That’s huge for us,” said Ingram. “We made some really good adjustments between (sets) two and three and kind of figured out what they were doing in the first two sets. We had to get back to our original gameplan, too, and took control of the block. Then our offense took off, too.”
McKayla Benner, Southern Nazarene’s second-team all-conference selection, had six fourthset kills, finishing with 10 and a match-high 3 1/2 total blocks.
“She was super nervous,” Ingram said. “She was almost in tears at the beginning of the game. Just so nervous, but once she settled in and actually got a little ticked off, she played a lot better and really did some good things for us down the stretch.”
Southern Nazarene libero Abbey Bell had a match-high 34 digs against one of the top GAC’s top hitting teams.
“She read the court extremely well all over the place today,” Ingram said. “She was the person I said did a good job today in that locker room because she was all over the place. She played like that last year here, and she knows how much she wants to be back in that championship game.”
Ouachita sophomore Kori Bullard, a 2014 Lake Hamilton graduate, started slowly but finishing with a flourish, six of her team-high 16 kills coming in the fourth set.
“Kori is an amazing athlete,” Prescott said. “She’s a two-sport kid. She’ll be leaving in the morning to go to wherever the basketball team is playing this weekend in Oklahoma. She stepped up and became the leader today, and when you’re graduating your proven leader, you’re going to need somebody to fill in that role and it looked like Kori stepped into that challenge.”
Ouachita junior Ashley Wake, a 2013 Fountain Lake grad, finished with a team-high 24 digs.