BETHANY, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team saw its five-match win streak get snapped at Southwestern Christian on Thursday night as the Eagles battled back to get the 3-2 win over the Evangels inside the Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
SCORE
- Southwestern Christian 3, Mid-America Christian 2 (25-18, 13-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-11)
- Mid-America Christian (15-10, 9-5 SAC)
- Southwestern Christian (7-15, 2-12 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Southwestern Christian opened the match by scoring the first three points before building its lead out to five at 13-8 by the midway point on a Makenna Thomas kill.
- The Eagles built their lead out to as much as nine on a Thomas kill to bring it to set-point at 24-15.
- Mid-America Christian scored three in a row on a Lena Stockhammer kill, a Sydney Martin service ace and a Tierney Sawyers attack error, but Cloie Mitchell attack error sealed a 25-18 set win for the Eagles.
- Southwestern Christian out-hit the Evangels by notching 13 kills on a .282 attack percentage while the Evangels were held to 12 kills at a .190 hitting clip.
- Set Two
- Mid-America Christian flipped the script on Southwestern Christian, scoring on the first four rallies off three SCU miscues and a Casady McKinney service ace.
- With the Evangels holding a 6-4 lead, a Stockhammer termination ignited a string of five unanswered, capped off on another Stockhammer slam to make it an 11-4 game.
- Southwestern Christian battled back to close it to a 17-13 game, but the Evangels finished off the set by scoring the final eight points, finishing on a monstrous Stockhammer kill from the right side to seal the 25-13 victory.
- MACU scored 11 kills on a .360 attack percentage while the defense stifled SCU, holding the Eagles to only seven kills on a -.031 attack percentage.
- Set Three
- SCU jumped out to an early 9-6 lead, but a Stockhammer kill started a string of four unanswered during an 8-1 run, capped off on a Sarah Jones and Miram Nardi assisted block to make it a 14-10 Evangels advantage.
- With MACU maintaining a 19-14 edge, the Eagles rattled off five unanswered points of their own to bring it even.
- Following back-to-back sideouts, a Vanessa Moreira kill allowed the Evangels to close out the set with a 5-1 surge as Stockhammer put the set away to close out the 25-21 win.
- Even though MACU was held to just 11 kills on a .214 attack clip, the Evangels were still defensively able to limit Southwestern Christian to 12 kills, but only a .077 hitting rate due to forcing nine attack errors.
- Set Four
- Mid-America Christian needed to battle out of a hole immediately as the Eagles scored the first five points of the set, but MACU managed to trim it to a three-point deficit at 11-8 off of three Nardi terminations and a Lauryn Walters kill.
- The Evangels found themselves in a major hole once again after SCU strung together five straight with a Nardi attack error setting the score to 16-8.
- MACU once again fought back, five unanswered as part of a 7-1 surge as a Stockhammer kill and a Tierney Sawyers attack error closed it to 17-15.
- The Evangels weren't able to climb any closer the rest of the way as the Eagles pulled out the 25-20 win to force a fifth set.
- Mid-America Christian managed to put down 15 of their 20 points on kills, but could only muster a .157 attack percentage while SCU recorded 13 kills, but hit for a solid .191 percentage.
- Set Five
- MACU scored the first three off an Eagles service error and back-to-back kills from Stockhammer and Mitchell, however, SCU countered with five straight to take the 5-3 lead.
- The Evangels managed to tie it up at 6-6 on a Nardi termination, but SCU claimed the advantage back by scoring on seven of the next 10 rallies as a McKinney ball-handling error put SCU just two points away from winning the match at 13-9.
- MACU got two of the next three of Stockhammer kills, but SCU wrapped up the match on a Mina Iboni kill to seal the 15-11 final.
- Southwestern Christian tallied nine kills on an efficient .304 attack percentage while MACU could only muster seven kills on a .217 clip.
MATCH NOTES
- Overall, Mid-America Christian was able to out-hit Southwestern Christian for the match, notching 56 kills on a .214 attack percentage while the Eagles batted 54 kills at a .161 attack rate.
- Ball-handling errors proved costly for the Evangels as MACU was whistled for eight in the match.
- Despite suffering the loss, Lena Stockhammer recorded her third triple-double of the season, notching a team-high 18 kills on a .333 attack percentage to go with 14 assists and 12 digs.
- MACU struggled to slow down the SCU tandem of Makenna Thomas and Mina Iboni, who combined for 32 kills on a .261 hitting rate.
- Miriam Nardi was the only other Evangel to crack into double-figures in kills with 12 while Vanessa Moreira efficiently put down eight on a .304 attack percentage.
- Casady McKinney dished out 30 assists to lead the passing efforts while Marlee Hunter totaled 22 digs in the defense alongside 19 scoops for Sydney Martin.
- Not only did the Eagles snap MACU's five-match win streak, but they also broke the Evangels' eight-match win streak in the series. The last time Southwestern Christian defeated MACU came on Oct. 23, 2018 in a 3-1 decision inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will face a tough task next weekend as the Evangels will face the two top teams in the SAC. MACU will first head to Fort Worth, Texas on Oct. 21 to take on No. 24 Texas Wesleyan.
