OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team fought its way back from two sets down to Oklahoma Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon, but MACU's comeback effort came up just short as the Eagles held on for a 3-2 victory in the final match of the MACU/USAO Cruisin' Classic.
SCORE
- Oklahoma Wesleyan 3, Mid-America Christian 2 (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 15-7)
- Mid-America Christian (2-1)
- Oklahoma Wesleyan (4-0)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- First Set
- Mid-America Christian fought back from as much as five down in the early portions of the set before eventually taking a 17-15 lead entering the final half.
- The Eagles rattled off scores in seven of the next eight rallies to jump out to a 22-18 advantage before eventually holding on for the 25-21 win.
- Set Two
- The Eagles got off to a fast start once again, leading by as much as four at 5-1 before the Evangels chipped away at the advantage. Midway through the set, MACU utilized a 6-2 run behind a pair of Lena Stockhammer kills, a Lauryn Walters kill and a Faith Foutch service ace to make it a 16-15 MACU advantage.
- Walters put down her sixth kill of the set and her 11th kill of the match to set the score to 20-18, but Oklahoma Wesleyan went on a dominant run to close it out, tallying scores on seven of the final eight points to secure its second straight 25-21 victory.
- Set Three
- Neither team led by more than three throughout but with the Evangels holding a 23-21 cushion, a Tijana Stojikolvic kill and a Stockhammer attack error brought the two teams even, forcing MACU head coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout to regroup.
- MACU managed to take advantage of a OKWU setting error to get the side out before Foutch dropped a service ace in on game-point to secure the 25-23 result.
- Set Four
- MACU managed to gather an early three-point lead before the Eagles put together a strong run in the middle portion of the set, breaking a 10-all tie with a 9-4 surge to hold a five-point cushion.
- After trading the next two rallies, the Evangels got the attack going by registering five kills and forced three OKWU attack errors during a dominant 10-2 run, forcing a decisive fifth-set following a 25-22 set four win.
- Set Five
- Mid-America Christian notched two of the first three points, but the Eagles swung back with a strong surge, scoring 10 of the next 13 to stake an 11-5 lead.
- Despite a Vanessa Moreira kill briefly stopping the run, OKWU finished strong with four of the final five points to seal the 15-7 win and claim the match victory.
MATCH NOTES
- Even though Mid-America Christian finished with 60 kills to 59 for Oklahoma Wesleyan, the Evangels were only able to muster a .196 attack percentage opposed to a .266 clip for the Eagles.
- Service and blocking also proved to be big difference makers in the tightly contested match, as the Evangels finished with just nine blocks compared to 12 for OKWU while also committing 13 service errors to just eight for the Eagles.
- Freshman outside hitter came up big for the Evangels in the losing effort, finishing with a career-high 18 kills on a blistering .533 attack percentage.
- MACU also got an efficient attack from its middle blockers as Miriam Nardi tallied nine kills on a .316 clip to go with a team-high five blocks while Vanessa Moreira notched seven kills on a .467 hitting percentage and four total blocks.
- Lena Stockhammer recorded her third straight double-double to start off the year with a team-high 28 assists and 12 kills to go with four blocks and a team-best three service aces.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now hit the road for another non-conference tournament as the Evangels will travel to Hastings, Neb. to compete in the Hastings College Tournament from Aug. 26-27.
- The Evangels will open the event with a 2 p.m. match against Presentation (S.D.) before facing Kansas Wesleyan in the 6 p.m. slot on Friday.
