LANGSTON, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team bounced back in a big way in its regular season finale as the Evangels cruised to a three-set sweep at Langston inside C.F. Gayles Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, Langston 0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-21)
- Mid-America Christian (18-13, 12-8 SAC)
- Langston (8-21, 1-19 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
- Lena Stockhammer – 16 Kills, .379 ATK%
- Vanessa Moreira – 14 Kills, .737 ATK%, 3 Blocks, 2 Digs
- Casady McKinney – 37 Assists, 6 Kills, .556 ATK%, 5 Digs, 2 Aces
- Marlee Hunter – 15 Digs, 2 Assists
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Langston was able to grab the early momentum by putting together a pair of three-point leads, the last coming off a string of three-unanswered points to take a 12-9 advantage midway through the set.
- A Cloie Mitchell kill ignited the Evangels attack as Mitchell and Vanessa Moreira combined for six terminations during a string of nine straight to take an 18-12 advantage.
- The Lady Lions scored back-to-back points to close the gap to four, but Mid-America Christian finished strong by scoring on seven of the last eight rallies as a Moreira service ace sealed the 25-15 win.
- The MACU attack was on-point as the Evangels recorded 17 kills on a .413 hitting percentage while Langston was held to 10 kills at a .121 clip.
- Moreira put together a stellar set in the attack, recording eight kills in the set while Stockhammer pitched in five terminations.
- Set Two
- The two teams were dead even through the first eight rallies, but the Evangels rattled off a 7-1 surge capped off on a Miriam Nardi kill to take a commanding 11-5 lead.
- Langston put together a short rally with two straight points off a ball-handling error and a Finehika Uhatafe kill to close it to 11-7.
- A Moreira kill started an unstoppable Evangels run over the last half of the set as MACU outscored Langston 14-4 down the stretch as Ryley Bowden made a well-placed short serve for an ace on game-point to secure the 25-11 final.
- Mid-America Christian notched only 13 kills in the set, but hit an incredibly efficient .600 attack percentage while defensively frustrating the Lady Lions, as LU tallied only three kills on a -.143 hitting clip.
- Set Three
- Langston jumped out to an early lead, scoring on six of the first 10 rallies to take a two-point advantage on a MACU attack error.
- Following a Lions attack error, Mid-America Christian took back the lead by scoring five unanswered as kills from Nardi and Mitchell led up to a Moreira termination bring the score to 9-6.
- Langston managed to close the gap to three on three different occasions, the last coming off a three-point Lions streak as a Braelyn Spence and Allanah Drayton-Campbell block brought it to a 22-21 score.
- The Evangels got the sideout on the following rally on a Sarah Jones kill before Casady McKinney scored back-to-back service aces to seal the 25-21 game.
- Mid-America Christian registered 18 kills on a .308 attack percentage for the set while the Lions scored 11 kills at a .206 hitting rate.
MATCH NOTES
- Overall, Mid-America Christian finished with 48 kills, tying the fifth-most in a three-set match in the NAIA Era while hitting for the fifth-best attack percentage in the NAIA Era as well at .413. Defensively, MACU limited Langston to only 24 kills on a .091 attack rate.
- Lena Stockhammer and Vanessa Moreira were an incredible tandem in the attack as the two players combined for 30 kills on a .521 attack percentage. Stockhammer finished with a match-high 16 kills at a .379 clip while Moreira turned in a career-high 14 kills on an incredible .737 hitting clip.
- Casady McKinney led the MACU passing efforts with 37 assists, her career-high in a three-set match to go with six kills on a blistering .556 attack rate to go with five digs and a pair of aces. With the two aces, McKinney surpassed Alexa Bass (52, 2018) for third in MACU's record book for single-season aces.
- Marlee Hunter led the back row defense with 15 digs, averaging five digs per frame.
- With the win, Mid-America Christian improved to 12-3 all-time against Langston and have won 11 straight matches in the series.
- The victory was a huge one for the Evangels as MACU locked up the No. 4 seed for the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament next week. As a result, Mid-America Christian will host its first ever SAC Tournament match with the opponent yet to be determined.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will host the SAC Quarterfinal on Tuesday, Nov. 8 against either Oklahoma City or Oklahoma Panhandle State inside the Gaulke Activity Center. The start time for the match is to be determined.
