OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite dropping the first set, the Mid-America Christian volleyball team put together a strong offensive effort as the Evangels came away with a 3-1 victory over Oklahoma City on Thursday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Oklahoma City opened the match on-fire, scoring six of the first seven points before eventually growing its lead all the way out to 18-9.
- Mid-America Christian put together a monstrous run to get back in the set, outscoring OCU 14-6 through the next 20 rallies to make it a 24-23 game.
- After some back-and-forth play at the net in the final rally, OCU's Rylee Steward put down the game-winning kill to seal the 25-23 win for the Stars.
- While both teams recorded 15 kills in the set, the Evangels hit for a slightly higher percentage as MACU swatted .250 while OCU tallied a .227 attack percentage.
- Where OCU made up the difference was from the service line, tallying a pair of aces to three errors while the Evangels were held without an ace and committed five service miscues.
- Set Two
- Both teams exchanged the lead four times through the first 13 rallies, but the Stars put together a 10-4 surge to hold a 15-10 just past the midway point.
- A pair of Lena Stockhammer kills and two Vanessa Moreira service aces ignited an incredible MACU streak as the Evangels outscored the Stars 15-5 over the final 20 rallies to secure the 25-20 win.
- While MACU hit for a slightly lower percentage, tallying 15 kills on a .234 hitting percentage, the Evangels were much more sound defensively, limiting OCU to just 12 kills on a .140 rate.
- Miriam Nardi and Lauryn Walters provided a large bulk of the Evangels' attack, combining for eight kills on a .381 attack percentage.
- The Evangels were also able to clean things up from the service line. After committing five errors in the opening set, MACU made just one mistake from the line while tallying two aces.
- Set Three
- Mid-America Christian was able to capture an early lead in set three, but the Stars were able to keep it close through the first 31 rallies as MACU couldn't extend its lead above three.
- Following a Michaela de Stefano service ace closed it to one at 16-15, the Evangels rattled off three in a row on kills from Walters and Nardi before Marlee Hunter tallied an ace to bring it to a 19-15 advantage.
- MACU finished strong, scoring four of the final five points on a pair of Cloie Mitchell kills and a kill apiece from Stockhammer and Sarah Jones to seal the 25-19 victory.
- The Evangels were outstanding in the attack, scoring 20 of their 25 points off kills for a .459 attack percentage while OCU could only muster nine kills on a .167 hitting clip.
- Stockhammer came alive in the MACU attack, scoring seven of the Evangels' kills on a blistering .667 percent.
- Set Four
- Despite an Emma Vance kill giving OCU the one-point lead in the early on-set, the Evangels surged in-front following a Nardi kill as she came up with a block followed by two Faith Foutch service aces before Nardi finished off the five-point swing with a kill, giving MACU the 11-7 edge.
- At the midway point, the Stars utilized a strong run by scoring on five of six rallies before Ruby Kelley's kill gave OCU the 14-13 advantage.
- MACU fought back by tallying three points in a row, but the Stars took back the lead after scoring on nine of the next 13 rallies to make it a 22-20 score.
- Moreira injected some life into the Evangels at the finish as her kill from the middle to the left corner ignited a dominant 5-1 run before Moreira finished off the set herself on a kill powered through the middle block to seal the 25-23 victory.
- As a team, Mid-America Christian tallied 17 kills on a .224 attack percentage for the set while the Stars notched 12 kills on a .163 hitting clip.
- Nardi and Stockhammer led the MACU attack with five kills apiece.
MATCH NOTES
- Mid-America Christian put together a record-breaking performance in the match as the Evangels recorded 67 kills on a .282 attack percentage. Those 67 kills broke MACU's NAIA Era (2007-present) four-set match record, surpassing the 62 the Evangels recorded at Bacone (Okla.) on Oct. 1, 2011. It also matched the third-most kills tallied in a single match, finishing just four behind the 71 the Evangels recorded at Wayland Baptist in a five-set win on Sept. 10, 2021.
- Defensively, the Evangels held OCU to only 48 kills on a .175 attack percentage.
- The Evangels also broke the program's four-set assists record with 66, placing six ahead of the 60 recorded against Arlington Baptist (Texas) on Oct. 10, 2020. The Evangels tied the overall match assist record with that win at Wayland Baptist last season.
- For the second time this season, Lena Stockhammer finished a match with a triple-double, tallying a team-leading 17 kills on a .263 attack percentage to go with 27 assists and 20 digs.
- Overall, the Evangels had four players reach double-digit kills. Miriam Nardi tallied 16 of them on a .317 clip, Lauryn Walters added 13 kills at a .333 percentage and Vanessa Moreira recorded 10 kills on a blistering .526 attack rate.
- Freshman setter Casady McKinney dished out a career-high 32 assists while Marlee Hunter shored up the MACU back line with 29 digs, averaging 7.25 per set.
- The win over Oklahoma City was just the third victory for the Evangels over OCU in the program's history, but its second in the last two years after defeating the Stars inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Sept. 21, 2021.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will continue its four-match home stand on Friday, Sept. 16 as the Evangels will host one of its biggest games of the season against No. 13 Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas). First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
