Tweet #theGAC  HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Top-seeded Oklahoma Baptist secured its first appearance in the final of the Great American Conference Volleyball Championship after the Bison thwarted a come-from-behind effort from Southern Nazarene and defeated the Crimson Storm in five sets on Friday from the Bank OZK Arena.
 
The Bison (27-5) raced out to an early lead as they won 12 of the first 13 points in set one en route to a 25-13 victory. They extended the advantage to 2-0 after taking the second set 25-22.
 
However, like in the opening semifinal of the GAC Championships, the trailing squad pushed the match to the limit as Southern Nazarene (22-11) took the third set 25-22 and fended off two match points before winning the fourth set, 26-24.
 
In the fifth set, Oklahoma Baptist’s 8-1 start proved too large a deficit for the Crimson Storm to overcome. Twice they pulled to within a point, but could never draw even. GAC Player of the Year Malia Leatherland finished the contest with her 18^th kill of the night.
 
Leatherland added 18 digs for her second double-double in as many GAC Championship matches. Taneyah Brown led the team with 19 kills. She hit a team-high .471. GAC Newcomer of the Year Hayley Daniel added 17 kills and 19 digs.
 
In the defeat, Sunny Batschelett hit .476 with 13 kills for the Crimson Storm. First-Team All-GAC selection Bailee Turang led the team with 17 kills and she collected 16 digs. GAC Setter of the Year Kylie Smith tallied 51 assists to finish with a GAC single-season record 1,453, breaking the mark of 1,412, set last season by Harding’s Rachel Heussner. She passed former Golden Sun setter Amber Cerrillos on the GAC’s all-time list and moved into third position with 3,996 assists..
 
Oklahoma Baptist will take on Harding at 2:00 pm in Saturday’s title match. Oklahoma Baptist won the lone regular-season contest, 3-0, on October 25.
 
The Bison become the eighth different GAC team to appear in the GAC Volleyball final. Since 2012, teams appearing in the title match for the first time own just a 1-4 record with the lone win coming in 2015 when Southwestern Oklahoma State defeated Southern Arkansas, in a battle of dueling first-time finalists.