THE RUNDOWN
The Lady Patriots got the home win against the Lady Jets of Newman University in five sets. This was an exciting match from start to finish with every set decided by four points or less. It was a solid, balanced game for DBU today. After struggling to get blocks against UA Fort Smith on Thursday the Lady Patriots got back to their defensive ways and recorded six blocks in today's match. The offense for DBU also got back on track with four players reaching at least 10 kills. 

The first set saw the Lady Patriots take an early 8-4 lead and they did a good job of maintaining that lead for a majority of the set. Newman did eventually fight back and tie things up at 19-19, but DBU would then score six of the next eight points to take the first set 25-21. The second set was even more back and forth between the two teams. The Lady Patriots took a 10-3 lead only for the Lady Jets to score five points in a row to cut that lead down to 10-8. DBU would respond and get the lead back up to 17-10, but Newman stayed in the set and would tie things up at 24-24. Merci Perry would then set up Sidnee Jo Fitzpatrick and Alexa Lezak to get two kills and allow DBU to win the set.

Going into the third set, Newman showed they weren't ready to go home already. The score remained close with DBU leading 14-13 before Newman jumped out to a 20-15 lead and would hold onto that lead the rest of the way winning the set 25-21. Newman took another late lead in the fourth set at 16-10 which caused Coach Kokel to take a timeout. The Lady Patriots came out of the timeout with a lot more energy and enthusiasm. They eventually tied the game at 20-20, but Newman would hold off the comeback and win the set 25-23. The excitement would stay with DBU going into the fifth set though. With DBU leading 6-5, Brooke Clark stepped up with three kills in a row to take a commanding 9-5 lead. Kasey Holand and Sidnee Jo Fitzpatrick would help seal the deal from there with a few kills of their own and DBU took the set 15-11 and DBU took the win 3-2.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The DBU timeout late in the fourth set was the turning point in this match. The Lady Patriots came out of that timeout with a new sense of urgency and excitement that stayed with them the rest of the match.
• Alexa Lezak had one of her better games this season as she finished with the most kills on the team with 15 and the third most digs on the team with 10.
• This win brings DBU's conference record to an even 2-2.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
13- Brooke Clark finished the match with 13 kills, including three kills in a row in the fifth set.
6- The Lady Patriots got their defense back and ended the match with six blocks total.
3- Strealy Sizelove finished the match in the top 3 in 3 different statistical categories for DBU including aces, assists, and digs.

COACH KOKEL ON WHAT SHE TOLD HER TEAM DURING THE TIMEOUT IN THE FOURTH SET
"We just talked about how it's home court, you still have the advantage, and it's early enough in the game that you can comeback and win. It just takes a lot of, not emotion, but intimidation, being loud, and being aggressive and they just decided to do that."

UP NEXT
The Lady Patriots will have one more home game on Tuesday against Texas Woman's at 6:00 p.m before they go on the road to face West Texas A&M and Lubbock Christian next weekend.