CHICKASHA, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team battled out a four-set grinder in the USAO Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, but the Evangels took care of business their home away from home as MACU extended its win streak to four with a 3-1 victory over Wayland Baptist.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, Wayland Baptist 1 (26-24, 27-29, 25-23, 25-21)
- Mid-America Christian (14-9, 8-4 SAC)
- Wayland Baptist (6-11, 6-6 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Mid-America Christian mustered at least a three-point lead on three different occasions during the first half of the set, but Wayland Baptist battled back with runs of its own, including stringing together four straight to grab a 15-14 lead.
- With the Pioneers holding a late 22-21 advantage, Lena Stockhammer stemmed the tide with back-to-back kills following a Vanessa Moreira termination to bring it to set-point at 24-22.
- WBU tallied back-to-back points on an Alexa Hinojos kill and a MACU stemming error, but the Evangels finished strong by taking advantage of a Hinojos attack error before Stockhammer finished off the set with a kill to secure the 26-24 win.
- MACU recorded 19 kills on a .267 attack percentage while Wayland Baptist notched only eight kills on a .179 clip.
- The Pioneers were able to keep it close due in large part to its aggressive blocking, notching four blocks and forcing seven MACU attack errors while WBU finished with just one miscue in the attack.
- Stockhammer was nearly unstoppable, putting down an astounding nine terminations on a .333 attack percentage.
- Set Two
- The Pioneers held a 14-12 edge through the first half, but a Cloie Mitchell ignited a string of five unanswered as the Evangels took back a three-point lead.
- It was a back-and-forth battle down the stretch as a Stockhammer kill and a Brenna Daniel attack error gave MACU the first game-point of the set at 24-23.
- The Evangels got game-point back following a Ryley Bowden service error on another Mitchell kill, but the Pioneers scored five of the final seven points to give the Evangels a heartbreaking 29-27 loss.
- Despite suffering the loss, the Evangels were able to finish with more kills than Wayland Baptist with a 17-13 edge in terminations, but the Pioneers hit for a higher percentage at .178 to .146 as MACU committed 10 attack errors to only five for WBU.
- Stockhammer had another strong offensive set, tallying five kills on a .444 attack percentage.
- Set Three
- The third set continued the back-and-forth trend as the two teams exchanged leads nine times through the first 35 rallies as back-to-back MACU points off of a Vanessa Moreira kill and a Bowden service aces gave MACU the 18-17 edge.
- The Evangels managed to stretch its advantage to two before the Pioneers tallied three straight off of a pair of MACU attack errors into the WBU block, making it a 22-21 Pioneers lead.
- MACU finished strong once again by scoring four of the final five points as Miriam Nardi's kill brought it to game-point before Casady McKinney scored a game-point service ace to seal a 25-23 victory.
- Wayland Baptist managed to hit for a slightly higher percentage even though MACU tallied more kills as the Evangels finished the set with 16 kills and eight errors on a .167 percentage while the Pioneers put down 11 kills to only three errors for a .182 rate.
- This time, Mid-America Christian was able to take advantage of strong serving, scoring four aces in the set to just two errors while the Pioneers were unable to tally an ace to go with one error.
- Annabeth Fehrle and Nardi the Evangels with four kills apiece while McKinney's pair of aces played a strong contribution from the service line.
- Set Four
- Mid-America Christian struggled at the start of the fourth and final set as WBU led by as much as three as the Pioneers held a 10-8 edge through the first 18 rallies.
- A Fehrle kill and a McKinney ace ignited the MACU offensive charge as the Evangels went on a 13-3 charge as Bowden's third ace of the match set the score to 21-13.
- The Pioneers made a late charge, scoring on eight of the next 10 rallies to close the gap to 23-21, but Fehrle's termination brought match point before Marlee Hunter finished the match from the service line with her lone ace of the match to end it at 25-21.
- While the Evangels finished with a match-low 13 kills in the set, MACU was effective in its attack as the Evangels recorded a .435 attack percentage while the Pioneers were limited to only nine kills at a .294 rate.
- Both teams were able to tally some points from the line as the Evangels blasted six aces to three errors in service while the Pioneers notched four aces to two miscues.
- Fehle led the MACU attack with four kills while Bowden and Sydney Martin chipped in a pair of aces.
MATCH NOTES
- Mid-America Christian broke into the record books with its offensive performance. The 65 kills tallied by MACU was its second-highest output in a four-set match in the NAIA era, finishing only behind the 67 the Evangels' tallied a month ago inside the Gaulke Activity Center against Oklahoma City. MACU also tallied 60 assists on those kills, tying the second-best mark in the NAIA era.
- Overall the Evangels hit for a .226 attack percentage while limiting Wayland Baptist to only 41 kills on a .193 attack percentage.
- The Pioneers were able to make up some of the kills difference in the block as WBU held a 12-2 edge in blocks while forcing 28 MACU attack errors to only 13 miscues in their own right.
- On-top of the offensive production, the Evangels also notched their second-most service aces of the season with 13.
- Mid-America Christian was balanced in the attack as four different players finished with double-digit kills, led by Lena Stockhammer with 19 on a blistering .350 attack percentage. Miriam Nardi chipped in 14 kills, Cloie Mitchell added 12 on a .222 attack percentage and Annabeth Fehrle finished with 11.
- Casady McKinney led the MACU passing efforts by dishing out a career-high 33 assists to go with six digs and three aces. Stockhammer narrowly missed a 20-20 match with 20 assists to go along with her 19 kills.
- Marlee Hunter led the back row defense with 30 digs, averaging 7.5 digs per set while Sydney Martin also shoveled out a career-high 22 digs and tied a career-best three aces from the line.
- Of the 13 MACU service aces, Ryley Bowden led the ace efforts with a career-high four tallies.
- Mid-America Christian swept the season-series against the Pioneers after coming away with a five-set win in Plainview, Texas on Sept. 2. MACU has now tallied five straight wins in the series and have won seven of the last nine meetings since 2019.
- By getting the win, Mid-America Christian improves to 8-4 in Sooner Athletic Conference play and currently sit alone in fourth in the league standings to go along with a 14-9 overall record. Wayland Baptist's loss drops the Pioneers to 6-6 in SAC play and 6-11 overall while also getting its five-match win streak snapped.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will open a challenging four-match road stand on Tuesday, Oct. 11 as the Evangels will head up-town to take on Oklahoma City in another pivotal SAC showdown. Opening serve is slated for 6 p.m. inside Abe Lemons Arena.
