EDMOND (Sept. 12) – Jenna Karp and Mikiah Perdue led a blistering attack at the net that carried No. 25-ranked Central Oklahoma to a three-set throttling of Oklahoma Baptist Tuesday night at Hamilton Field House.
Karp hit .647 with 11 kills and no errors in 17 attempts, while Perdue had nine kills and two miscues in 18 tries for a .389 attack percentage as the Bronchos rolled over the Lady Bison 25-21, 25-18, 25-12 in their home opener.
UCO improved to 9-1 with its fifth straight win in the final non-conference tilt of the season. The Bronchos open Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association play Thursday, hosting Newman at 6 p.m.
"That was a good win over a really tough OBU team," head coach Edgar Miraku said. "Jenna and Mikiah played well in the middle for us and that was the key tonight. Hopefully this will give us some good momentum going into the start of the conference schedule."
Karp had two kills in the first set, six in the second and three in the third in hitting .450 or better for the fourth time already this season. Perdue's nine kills tied a season high and she hit .350-plus for the third straight match.
UCO also got eight kills from Sydney Huck and five apiece from Addison Wimmer and Mallorie Koehn, with Koehn also tying a career high with five service aces. Lindsey Houran dealt out 37 assists and Jaedynn Evans chipped in a match-high 18 digs.
The Bronchos fell into a 4-1 hole to open the first set, but answered quickly with a 5-0 run to take the lead for good. Koehn and Perdue had kills and Huck an ace in giving UCO a 6-4 advantage.
Central stretched its lead to as much as six, but the Lady Bison stayed close and were within 22-21 after scoring three straight points. The Bronchos responded with consecutive kills by Houran, Huck and Karp to close out the set.
The teams battled back-and-forth throughout much of the second set before UCO finally gained some separation. It was tied at 17-all when Karp and Wimmer slammed down back-to-back kills followed by two OBU errors that put the Bronchos on top 21-17.
The Lady Bison scored once more, then Huck drilled a shot down the line and Karp followed with two straight slam dunks at the net before another OBU error ended it.
It was close in the early going of the third set and then became a rout. A 4-4 tie turned into a 10-6 UCO lead and the Bronchos continued to pull away from there.
Koehn had consecutive aces during a 7-1 run that made it 21-11 and UCO scored the final four points, capped by Houran and Karp's combined block on match point.
