WAXAHACHIE, Texas - For the second time in five days, the Mid-America Christian Univeristy volleyball team headed south to take on the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lady Lions, this time in the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinal round. The Evangels battled fiercely all night, but in the end, the Lady Lions were too much.
MACU (14-17) was able to keep each set close in the match, but SAGU (28-3) was able to hold off the MACU attack, and the Lady Lions took the match 25-22, 27-25, 25-18.
SAGU opened the match on a 4-1 run, but MACU was able to battle back close to within two at 13-11. Three straight points from SAGU pushed the Lady Lions lead to 16-11, but MACU used a 5-1 spurt to narrow the gap to 17-16. SAGU answered with a 6-1 run that pushed their lead to 23-17, but the Evangels battled hard to the end of the set, as they scored five of the next six points to close the margin to 24-22 before SAGU took the third of their set point chances to claim the opening frame 25-22.
In the second frame, the teams battled tooth and nail through the first 19 points. MACU hung close in the score columns, and despite the Evangels losing their lone senior Da'Jah Thompson to an injury, the Evangels continued to fight, and MACU put together an 8-0 run to take a 16-11 lead. MACU continued to lead in the set until a 4-0 spurt from SAGU helped the Lady Lions level the score at 20. MACU clawed their way to a 24-22 lead, and they had another set point chance at 25-24, but SAGU won the final three points of the set to take the frame 27-25 and open a 2-0 lead in the match.
SAGU scored six of the first eight points of the third stanza, but MACU rallied to tie the set at nine. The Evangels stayed close for the next eight points, but with the score tied at 13, the Lady Lions took 10 of the next 11 points to open a 23-14 lead. MACU summoned one last surge to close the gap to 24-18, but SAGU took their second match point opportunity to take the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
Elena Hadzhieva led the MACU offense with seven kills, and Skylar Brower and Alexa Bass each added five scoring swings. Bass had 22 assists in the match, and Kaylie Walker had a team-high 14 digs.
The loss ends the MACU season, and with it the career of Thompson. Thompson finishes her senior season with a team-leading 279 kills, and 471 kills for her career.
