OKLAHOMA CITY - The Mid-America Christian University volleyball team welcomed Wayland Baptist University to the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon for their second meeting of the season. The Evangels had taken the Pioneers to four sets in Plainview, Texas earlier this season, and on Saturday the teams were as competitive as ever.
MACU (9-11, 5-7 SAC) pelted 21 kills in the first set, and the offense was in rhythm for much of the day, but Wayland Baptist (8-11, 7-5 SAC) was able to frustrate MACU just enough to claim a close four-set win 27-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21.
MACU roared out to an early 9-3 lead in the first set, but WBU took a time out and the Pioneers started to whittle away at the margin. Wayland tied the score at 12, but MACU bounced right back with a 5-0 run to take a 17-12 lead late in the set. MACU tried to hold onto the lead as the set wound down, but WBU used a 3-0 run to surge in front 22-21. MACU took the lead back with two straight points, but that pattern repeated twice as both teams had set point chances that went for naught as the set was tied late 25-25. An Ace from WBU's Alex Wood, though, put WBU in front for good as an attack error gave the Pioneers the frame 27-25.
MACU again sprinted out to a moderate lead in the second stanza, opening the set on a 5-0 run and holding an early 8-3 advantage. With the Evangels up 10-6, Wayland put together an 8-1 run to take a 14-11 lead, but the Evangels responded to wrestle the lead back with a 7-3 spurt. With the set tied at 18, MACU took control of the frame, as three kills from Hannah Balzer-Lipsett helped ignite a 7-1 run to close the period with a 25-19 MACU win to square the match.
Set three was a back-and-forth affair earle, with MACU taking a 5-3 lead early, then WBU answering to claim a 10-6 edge. MACU whittled the margin down to one three times, but MACU was never able to tie the score as the Pioneers took set three 25-20. For much of the fourth set, MACU looked like they were going to force a fourth set, as the Evangels held the lead for 29 of the first 31 points of the stanza - with the leading reaching a high mark of five at 14-9. With the Evangels leading 17-14, though, the Pioneers rattled off five straight points, to take a 19-17 lead, the WBU never trailed again as they took the set 25-21 to take the 3-1 win in the match.
Da'Jah Thompson led all MACU players with 11 kills, and Skylar Brower had a career-high 10 kills and attacked the ball at a .529 clip. Alexa Bass had another double double with 37 assists and 10 digs. Kaylie Walker had a team-high 20 digs in the match, Maegan Plunk added 14, Morgan Van Meir chipped in 13, and Elena Hadzhieva added 10.
MACU will be back in action on Wednesday evening when they head to Siloam Springs for an important SAC match against the John Brown University Golden Eagles (9-8, 8-4 SAC) at 7 p.m.
