Zach Byrum
Sports
Women’s Golf played amazingly this week at the NCAA Central Region preview in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, this past Tuesday. Freshman Gimena Errecart led the Bison women’s golf team to its third consecutive top-10 finish. Shooting a spectacular even-par for the tournament, Errecart finished in a tie for fourth in the tournament to give the team a fighting chance, while also securing a spot on the All-Tournament team. This marks the second-highest placing in the program’s Division II era, not including our own OBU Invitational. It is the first top-five finish in Errecart’s young career and the lowest final card by a Bison this season. Gimena is looking amazing this season and she’s only getting better. Another freshman, Morgan Simmons placed second for our ladies in green and gold, whose second-round eight-over 80 earned a tie for 40th. Sophomore Morgan Becker tied for 44th, firing six-over 78, just slightly improving on her stroke 79 (+7) in the opening round.
Women’s Volleyball also did great things this week, recording the second-highest attack percentage given up by Southern Nazarene this season while the Bison went on to win 3-1 at the Sawyer Center on Tuesday. The Bison have now improved to a respectable 8-6 and 2-1 in the Great American Conference with the result of this game. Against a strong defensive showing from SNU, the Lady Bison offense absolutely dominated the game with a .294 attack mark. Right side Jh’Kyah Head’s 15 kills marked a career best, also the team high, hitting a .458. Setter Emily Boyer posted an amazing double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs. Outside hitter D’Erricka Frierson added on with her 12 kills during the game. Over the last three matches, Frierson’s averaged an astonishing 3.5 kills per set for the Lady Bison offense. Both Avery Hellmuth and Jenna West also contributed, securing 10 kills. In addition to Boyer’s dig total, Maci Langford and Lauren Safrit also tallied 10 digs apiece.
Women’s Soccer led 2-0 going into minute 20 but would eventually be overcome as the East Central Tigers scored multiple goals to secure a 2-2 draw at Tiger Field on September 29. The Lady Bison moved their record to 2-6-1 and 1-1-1 in the GAC. Mid fielder Lex Williamson scored her first ever career goal in this match up. Mid fielder Kaylee Swaner assisted on not only one of the Lady Bison goals but both goals while also attempting two shots. Forward Alanna Bloomingdale tallied another goal to make her total to three goals on the season which is also the team-high for our lady bison. Forward Avril Baccam led the team for the second straight match with four shots, continuing to just attack opposing goal keepers. Some good takeaways from the game were the outstanding passing. In both of OBU’s first-half goals, Kaylee Swaner carefully and masterfully orchestrated the attack, navigating through the Tigers’ defense, and gave pinpoint accurate passes to Williamson and Bloomingdale. Swaner’s two assists moved her into the lead of the Great American Conference, now with three in total this season. The bad takeaways from the game included late in the first when Tanja Baubock’s free kick from just from inside midfield almost went into the Bison’s net, but Mia Pendleton blocked it off the crossbar. Sadly, it came right back to Angelica Bochus who finished the shot with her right foot. The game did not go in favor of the Lady Bison in the second half as Williamson just barely missed a goal, a shot off the crossbar in the 63rd minute. On-goal attempts from Avril Baccam, Makenzy Morgan, Sophia Ziesemer and Swaner all got turned aside by Leveling. The Lady Bison’s next game will be October 4th at Ouachita Baptist.
