PLAINVIEW, Texas – The Mid-America Christian University volleyball opened up their 2018 Sooner Athletic Conference slate against the Wayland Baptist University Pioneers after a week off following two victories to open the slate. While MACU was competitive throughout the match, when the west Texas dust settled, the Evangels came up on the short end of the decision.
MACU (3-1, 0-1 SAC) held their own in the first set, and the Evangels bounced back to win the second set of the night. However, Wayland Baptist (1-4, 1-0 SAC) took set three and then held off the late charge from MACU in the fourth to take a 3-1 win 25-20, 18-25, 25-18, 26-24.
Wayland opened the night by dropping the first point of the match, but the Pioneers rattled off the next nine in a row to take control of the first set early. MACU used a 5-1 spurt to trim the deficit to 13-10, but WBU quickly pushed the lead out to 23-14 with a 10-4 run. The Evangels clawed their way back to within three with a 6-0 run late in the set, but the Pioneers took advantage of an attack error and put the set away with a service ace to take set one.
MACU built an early 6-3 lead in the second stanza, then the teams got into an odd rhythm. The two squads swapped 4-0 runs for the next 16 points, helping MACU take a 14-11 advantage, and after WBU scored to make it 14-12, the Evangels put together a 5-1 run to stretch their lead to 19-13. Wayland cut the margin to 21-17, but three late kills from MACU hitters – two from Elena Hadzhieva and one from Alexa Bass – helped the Evangels square the match with a 25-18 set win.
The first eight points of set three were split equally, but Wayland used a 6-1 run to gain some breathing room and take a 10-5 lead. Twice MACU cut the third set deficit to four, but another 6-1 WBU run late in the set helped the Pioneers pull away to the 25-18 set win to move to the brink of victory in the match.
An early 8-1 run from the Pioneers helped Wayland establish an 11-6 lead in the fourth set, but MACU answered with a 4-1 spurt that featured a trio of kills from Da'Jah Thompson. The Pioneers were able to hold the lead, and Wayland pushed their edge out to 18-12 before the Evangels pieced together a 6-1 run to trim the margin to 19-18 WBU. With the Pioneers leading 24-22 late, MACU made their last stand. Consecutive kills from Bass and Dianne Walter knotted the score at 24, but Wayland scored the final two points of the night to take the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.
Hadzhieva was the only Evangel to record at least 10 kills, pounding 12 scoring swings to the floor. Bass posted her second straight double-double with 20 assists and 14 digs, and she added six kills. Kaylie Walker (19), Morgan Van Meir (17), Maegan Plunk (15), and Gabrielle Poling (11) all also recorded at least 10 digs.
MACU will head north to Goodwell, Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon to complete their westward loop with a tri-match at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. The Evangels will take on the host Aggies (2-5, 1-0 SAC) at Noon, with a match against Oklahoma Wesleyan University (3-3) immediately following and slated for 2 p.m.
