Tweet #theGAC  SEARCY, Ark. – In a meeting of two undefeated schools, both ranked in the top six of the AVCA Top 25, Oklahoma Baptist asserted itself as the class of the Great American Conference with a three-set victory against hosting Harding to win the Great American Conference Spring Volleyball Championships on Sunday from the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.
 
In the opening set, Oklahoma Baptist (18-0) jumped out to a 9-3 advantage. On four occasions, Harding (12-1) closed to within one, but the Bison never relinquished the lead. Malia Leatherland and Avery Helmuth combined for eight kills in the set.
 
In the following set, the Bison turned in a virtuoso attacking performance, hitting .412 with just one error. They won the first six points and never trailed en route to a 25-16 second-set victory. The Oklahoma Baptist defense recorded four blocks and limited Harding to a .073 attack percentage.
 
In the final set, the Bison again started fast, taking a 4-1 lead. Ahead 12-11, Oklahoma Baptist made its decisive run by winning five of the next six points to grow its advantage to 17-12. Harding showed mettle by staving off four match points before Taryn Weber secured the title with a kill.
 
Representative of Oklahoma Baptist’s dominating performance, the lone lead change of the match occurred in the first set after the Lady Bisons won two of the first three points before Oklahoma Baptist rattled off four consecutive points. The Bison outhit the Lady Bisons .234 to .088. They committed only nine errors. Oklahoma Baptist, the nation’s leader in blocks per set at 2.96, and bettered that mark by totaling 11.0 blocks on Sunday.
 
Leatherland earned MVP honors for the second-straight GAC Championship. She became both the first repeat and two-time tournament MVP in league history. Against Harding, she tallied 10 kills, 10 digs, two blocks and an ace. She hit .258. For the Championship, she averaged 3.40 kills and 3.00 digs per set. Taneyah Brown and Kaylee Buell also represented Oklahoma Baptist on the team. Brown hit .529 against Harding. Buell amassed 31 assists in the final and averaged 10.70 assists per set for the week.
 
Logan Smith and Katherine Cowart made the All-Tournament Team for the Lady Bisons. Smith, the league’s Offensive Player of the Year, tied for the team lead with nine kills on Sunday. She added 17 digs. Cowart averaged 5.33 digs per set for the tournament. Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Emma Cohalla and Arkansas Tech’s Kaitlynn Bradley rounded out the team. Cohalla averaged 3.50 points per set and hit .395 while Bradley hit .381 and averaged 2.43 blocks per set.
 
Oklahoma Baptist and Harding will both head to Dallas to compete in the AVCA Division II National Championship. The tournament begins on Wednesday featuring 12 additional schools, including five nationally-ranked teams. Henderson State will also participate.