OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team gave No. 24 Oklahoma City one of its toughest matches of the season by winning the first two sets, but the Stars rallied to top the Evangels in five = (23-25, 21-25, 25-8, 25-19, 15-7) on Thursday night at the Gaulke Activity Center.
Mid-America Christian (10-8, 8-5 Sooner Athletic Conference) got off to a hot start, hitting for a .400 attack percentage in set one and limiting Oklahoma City (22-1, 12-0 SAC) to a -0.069 percentage in the second set, but the Stars caught fire in the final three sets while holding the Evangels a 0.048 attack percentage or less in each of the final three frames.
After trading the first four points in the opening set, the Evangels jumped in-front with a 4-1 run that included three Hannah Focker kills to make it an early 6-3 edge for MACU. However, the Stars quickly battled back with a 6-1 streak of their own to capture a two-point lead.
However, the Evangels played some inspired volleyball over the next several minutes, rallying with the eight unanswered points with two Alexa Bass service aces and a kill to go with an Elena Hadzhieva kill to give Mid-America Christian a 15-9 advantage.
Oklahoma City collected the next two points, but MACU retaliated by taking five of the next six with two Maddie Callicoat kills to take its largest lead of the set at 20-12, forcing the Stars to call a timeout.
OCU worked its way back in the set by taking 10 of the next 13 points to narrow the Evangels' edge to 23-22, but Hadzhieva helped thwart the Stars comeback with a pair of kills to hold on for the 25-23 win.
The Evangels got off on the right foot to start off set No. 2, scoring five of the first six with a pair of points from Faith Foutch and kills by Bass and Callicoat. Oklahoma City mounted a rally to narrow the MACU advantage to 8-7, but three straight Evangels kills by Callicoat, Hadzhieva and Dianne Walter pushed the MACU lead back to four.
An aggressive OCU blocking effort not only helped the Stars come back, but they surged ahead with a 7-1 run to claim a 14-12 edge over the Evangels. However, a Stars service error swung the momentum back the Evangels way with the next five points going to MACU, giving the Evangels the lead back at 17-14.
Oklahoma City swung back with five unanswered of their own to retake a 20-18 edge, but the Evangels strung together one last strong run, tallying points in seven of the last eight rallies to take set two, 25-21.
All the momentum in the match shifted the Stars way immediately in the third set. With the set deadlocked at 2-2, Oklahoma City streaked out in-front with an 8-1 run to take a commanding 10-3 lead, forcing MACU Head Coach Kevin Fitzgibbon to call a timeout. MACU struggled to muster a rally against the Stars throughout the remainder of the set as Oklahoma City went on to win the third frame, 25-8.
The Evangels challenged OCU early in the fourth set by recording three of first five points, but another Stars 10-1 streak turned the tide back to in Oklahoma City's favor. The Stars led by as much as 10 at 21-11, but MACU clawed its way back by taking eight of the next 11 rallies to close the gap to 24-19 before OCU finally collected the set point.
The fifth and final frame was tightly contested early with OCU and MACU trading blows through the first six points, but OCU once again rattled off four in a row before heading into the side change with the 8-4 edge.
Mid-America Christian could not slow down the Stars in the second half of the set as Oklahoma City outscored the Evangels 7-3 to win set five 15-7 and escape Gaulke with the victory.
Despite suffering the loss, the Evangels gave Oklahoma City one of its toughest matches of the season as it was the first time the Stars had been forced to go to a fifth set in Sooner Athletic Conference play and it was just the third time OCU had been in a five-set match all year since going to five in its first two matches of the year with a win over now No. 1 Missouri Baptist and a loss to Evangel.
Mid-America Christian had an overall balanced attack in the match with three players recording 10 kills. Callicoat, Focker and Hadzhieva each broke into double-figures while Foutch came close with a season-best eight.
Bass led the passing efforts with 33 assists and by totaling three service aces, moved up the MACU record book in career service aces with 77. Four Evangels recorded double-digit digs in the match, led by junior libero Maegan Plunk with 18.
The Evangels will have to get back on the winning track away from home as MACU will now start a four-match road swing with a 1 p.m. bout at Southwestern Christian on Saturday.
