PLAINVIEW, Texas – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team put together another thrilling match inside the Hutcherson Center on Friday night as the Evangels rallied with a strong finish to come away with the 3-2 victory over Wayland Baptist in its SAC opener on Friday night.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, Wayland Baptist 2
- Mid-America Christian (7-3, 1-0 SAC)
- Wayland Baptist (0-6, 0-1 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Mid-America Christian struggled in the attack during the opening set, recording just seven kills on a .030 attack percentage while Wayland Baptist tallied 13 kills on a .171 hitting clip.
- Despite the Evangels' struggles offensively, Annabeth Fehrle tallied three kills on a 1.000 hitting percentage while the rest of the team could only muster four kills on a .066 attack rate.
- Mid-America Christian was able to close it to two at 10-8 near the midway point, but the Pioneers rattled off 12-4 run to expand their lead to double-figures at 22-12.
- Set Two
- Mid-America Christian bounced back strongly in set two, recording 16 kills on a .306 hitting percentage while limiting Wayland Baptist to eight kills on a .152 attack rate.
- MACU was also effective from the service line, tallying four aces in the set.
- The Evangels came back from a 5-4 deficit by utilizing a powerful 15-4 run to hold a commanding 19-9 lead at one point in the set.
- Set Three
- After MACU jumped out to an early lead, Wayland Baptist went on to outscore the Evangels 14-5 over a 19-point run to take an 18-12 lead.
- Mid-America Christian battled back late in the set, utilizing a 7-1 surge to tie it up at 21-all.
- The two teams exchanged the next four rallies before the Pioneers scored the final two points on a pair of Carlee Heidebrecht kills to secure the 25-23 win.
- The Evangels struggled against the Pioneers front row, mustering 12 kills on just a .091 attack percentage while six of the eight attack errors came off the Pioneer block.
- Set Four
- After a back-and-forth battle with neither team grabbing more than a three-point lead through the first 36 rallies, Mid-America Christian broke an 18-all tie by scoring four of the next five on a pair of Lauryn Walters kills and an Annabeth Fehrle kill before Casady McKinney closed out the 4-1 run with a service ace.
- WBU rattled off three straight of its own to tie it up late, but following a timeout from head coach Holly McKamie, the Evangels strung together three-unanswered as Vanessa Moreira and Lena Stockhammer teamed up on a block to seal the 25-21 win.
- Despite the two teams being evenly matched throughout the set, MACU still held an edge in the attack with 13 kills at a .109 attack rate while holding the Pioneers to 10 kills on a .073 clip.
- Set Five
- Mid-America Christian put together a dominant run to start out the final set, scoring 12 of the first 14 points.
- After trading the next four points, the Evangels sealed the win on an assisted block by Miriam Nardi and Lauryn Walters to wrap-up the 15-5 victory.
- The Evangels recorded an astounding eight kills on a .500 attack percentage and tallied three aces while the Pioneers could only leverage three kills on an .077 hitting percentage.
MATCH NOTES
- Overall, Mid-America Christian finished the match with 56 kills on a .166 attack percentage while Wayland Baptist was limited to 45 kills at a .122 clip.
- Wayland Baptist was able to keep the match close with its stellar blocking, closing out the match with 14 blocks while the Evangels could only tally four rejections at the net.
- MACU once again utilized its balanced scoring as four Evangels finished with at least nine kills: Lena Stockhammer (13), Lauryn Walters (11), Cloie Mitchell (10), Annabeth Fehrle (9), while six Evangels finished with at least eight points.
- Stockhammer led the MACU attack with 13 kills and also led the team in assists with 19 to go with five digs and two blocks on the defense.
- Casady McKinney provided a huge spark offensively, turning in a season-high eight points on five service aces and three kills to go with 18 assists and 10 digs.
- Marlee Hunter led the MACU back row, finishing just a dig shy of her career-record with 25.
- It was the third straight time Mid-America Christian and Wayland Baptist put together a five-set thriller inside the Hutcherson Center the last two seasons. Last year, Mid-America Christian came away with a 3-2 victory on Sept. 10 before dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to the Pioneers in the SAC Quarterfinal on Nov. 9. NOTE: That match was later awarded as a forfeit win to the Evangels due to Wayland Baptist competing with an ineligible player.
- Mid-America Christian has now won six of its last eight matches against the Pioneers since the 2019 season after WBU won the first 27 matches in the all-time series.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now head to Goodwell, Okla. for a Saturday afternoon match against Oklahoma Panhandle State. Opening serve is slated for 1 p.m. inside Anchor D Arena.
