The Ouachita Baptist women’s volleyball team continued its road woes Friday, dropping a pair of matches to Cameron, 3-0, and Texas Woman’s, 3-2, to open the Texas Woman’s Volleyball Tournament at Kitty Magee Arena in Pioneer Hall.
Against Cameron, Ouachita Baptist dropped three straight by scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-17.
The Lady Tigers (0-6) finished with 40 digs, 26 kills and 26 assists. Libby Merritt and Kaitlyn Mitcham paced the Ouachita Baptist offense with eight and seven kills, respectively. Lauren Stuart had 11 assists, while Lexie Hegi added nine. Mitcham recorded nine digs and Raichel Settle chipped in with eight.
In the opening game, Ouachita Baptist tried to rally from a 21-10 deficit as Merritt’s kill sparked a late run, but it wasn’t enough as Cameron won the game 25-17. A Kill by Meredith Henry in the second game gave the Lady Tigers an 8-7 advantage. However, the Aggies reeled off 18 of the next 29 points to get a 25-19 win. In the third game, a Danielle Thomas service error pulled Ouachita Baptist to within 11-10, but Cameron used a 4-0 run and never looked back in a 25-17 victory.
In the opener against Texas Woman’s, Ouachita Baptist fell behind early 18-12, but only to battle back and grab a 25-24 lead after a kill by Henry. But an error by Mitcham, along with kills by Jessica Crow and Katie King gave Pioneers a 27-25 victory. Texas Woman’s never trailed in the second game in taking a 25-19 win. Ouachita Baptist took the third game won Henry got a service ace to cut the Pioneers lead to 2-1. The Lady Tigers won a closely contested game in the fourth, 25-23, to set up the fifth and deciding game. Texas Woman’s dominated play in the fifth by winning the game, 15-4.
Henry and Merritt led the Lady Tigers’ offense with 18 and 12 kills, respectively. Hegi recorded a team-high 43 assists. Four Ouachita Baptist players reached double figures in digs, led by Lauren Stuart with 15. Kristyn Howk added 13, while Hegi and Settle finished with 12.
The Lady Tigers had 60 kills, 55 assists and 71 digs.
Seven teams are competing in this two-day tournament – Cameron, Ouachita Baptist, Pittsburg State, Southeastern Oklahoma State, Texas Wesleyan, UT-Permian Basin, and Texas Woman’s University.
The Lady Tigers will conclude tournament action 9 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 6 against the University of Texas-Permian Basin and at 6 p.m. against Southeastern Oklahoma State.
