OKLAHOMA CITY – On Saturday afternoon, the Mid-America Christian University volleyball team put their five match winning streak on the line, but the team they faced had a streak of their own going. When the dust had settled at the end of the day, the Lady Evangels had battled fiercely, but the winning streak had gone by the boards.
MACU (8-12, 4-7 SAC) struggled to find their rhythm offensively all afternoon as the John Brown University Golden Eagles (20-5, 9-2 SAC) extended their own winning streak to four matches with a 3-0 victory; 25-14, 25-15, 26-24.
JBU won the first five points of the match, but the Lady Evangels closed the gap to 8-5 with a kill from Dianne Walter and a block from Walter and Breeana Fritschow. JBU, however, quickly stretched out the lead again. The Golden Eagles used runs of 5-1 and 5-0 to build an 18-9 lead, and from there, JBU coasted home with a 25-14 win.
The second set started much as the first, with MACU trailing early but keeping the score close into the middle stages of the stanza. Again, though, JBU took control in the middle stages, this time with a 12-3 run that helped open a 19-9 JBU lead on their way to a 25-15 win.
In the third frame, JBU sprinted out to a 6-3 lead, and they eventually built their advantage to four on three separate occasions, but the Lady Evangels dug deep for one last charge. Trailing 20-16, MACU went on a 6-1 run to take a 22-21 lead, but JBU immediately tied the score. JBU took a 24-23 lead, but Laurel Church answered with a kill to tie the score and send the set beyond the scheduled distance, but the Golden Eagles took the final two points to win the set 26-24 and the match 3-0.
Church led the Lady Evangels with seven kills, and Fritschow added five. Melissa Hoppal had 10 assists and eight digs, Ryann Hale had nine assists, and Gabrielle Poling posted 11 digs.
The Lady Evangels will have a few days off after a busy week, and they will return to the floor at home on Friday, October 20 when they take on the Wayland Baptist University Pioneers (14-9, 6-5 SAC) at 7 p.m.
