WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The Mid-America Christian University volleyball team entered play on Friday night at Southwestern Assemblies of God University knowing that they were already locked into the Sooner Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship. The Lady Evangels secured the final berth in the Championship on Thursday night when Oklahoma Panhandle State University lost their season finale at home, but the Lady Evangels still have SAC seeding to play for. On Friday night, they dropped their first of two matches on their final regular season road trip, but they still have a chance to rise to seventh in the Conference standings on Saturday.

MACU (10-14, 6-9 SAC) fell to SAGU (24-5, 14-1 SAC) in straight sets; 25-20, 25-14, 25-10; setting up a season finale with plenty riding on it. If the Lady Evangels can take a win on Saturday at Texas Wesleyan University, they will secure the seventh seed in the SAC Championship on a tiebreaker over St. Gregory's. If not, they will still make the tournament, but as the eighth and final team in the field.

A 6-0 run for the Lions midway through the first set helped SAGU open a 15-9 lead, and though Mid-America battled back, they were never able to get back even, falling in the set 25-20. The momentum carried into the second set, where SAGU used an 8-1 run to build an 8-4 lead, and another 8-0 run to break it open to 19-7 on their way to the 20-14 set win. SAGU took the first six points of the third frame as well, and the Lions never looked back, cruising to the 25-10 set win to complete the 3-0 sweep.

Da'Jah Thompson led MACU with six kills, and Laurel Church added five. Both Melissa Hoppal and Ryann Hale had a dozen assists, and Gabrielle Poling notched 13 digs in the match.

MACU will wrap up their regular season on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Texas Wesleyan University (23-3, 12-3 SAC).