OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU volleyball team found itself with its backs against the wall, trailing by a set midway through the match, but the Evangels were able to battle back over the final two sets to come away with a thrilling five-set victory over Wayland Baptist on Senior Night inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Friday.
At the beginning of the match, the Evangels honored their two graduating seniors,
Faith Foutch and
Ludmilla Souza.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, Wayland Baptist 0 (25-19, 22-25, 11-25, 25-17, 15-10)
- Mid-America Christian (16-10, 12-5 SAC)
- Wayland Baptist (11-12, 9-8 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- The two squads were relatively even through the first three rallies, but Wayland Baptist rattled off three-straight off kills from Selma Sutaj and Carlee Heidebrecht to go with an Annabeth Fehrle attack error to make it an 8-6 Pioneers lead.
- Mid-America Christian recaptured the momentum toward the midway point as two Sarah Jones terminations, a Lauryn Walters kill and a pair of Heidebrecht attack errors during a five-unanswered surge gave MACU the 12-9 cushion.
- The Pioneers opened the second half with a strong 5-1 run to recapture a 14-13 lead before the Evangels swung back with five in a row during a 7-1 streak as Sawyer Franz's finished a kill from the left side toward back right corner, setting the score to 20-15.
- MACU allowed the Pioneers to climb no closer than four the rest of the way as Lena Stockhammer powered the set-point kill through the WBU block to wrap-up the 25-19 win.
- Set Two
- The Pioneers opened the second set with all the momentum, scoring on the first five rallies before MACU got things going on the eighth rally, mustering a three-straight on a 5-2 run to bring it back to an 8-6 game on a Franz kill.
- Wayland Baptist built its lead back out to four nearing the midway point, but MACU stormed back to take the lead behind a 7-1 run featuring three Stockhammer slams, a kill apiece from Fehrle and Jones as well as two Ludmilla Souza service aces, setting the score to 14-12.
- Even though WBU looked as though it was going to come away with a late win after grasping a 21-19 advantage following a Valentina Bozzato ace, the Evangels rattled off three in a row from kills by Walters, Fehrle and Stockhammer.
- However, the Pioneers finished off the set strong, scoring the final four points to capture the 25-22 win to bring the match even.
- Set Three
- Disaster struck for Mid-America Christian right out of the gate as WBU scored on 12 of the first 13 rallies, including a string of 10 in a row as the WBU's blocking frustrated MACU into committing eight attack errors during the run.
- The Evangels tried to build some momentum off a three-unanswered push, but the Pioneers countered with four in a row of their own as back-to-back blocks at the net by Fade Ogunbade and Bozzato made it a 16-4 contest.
- WBU took its largest lead of the set late on consecutive Brenna Daniel aces to make it set point at 24-9. Even though MACU got two straight kills from Franz and Stockhammer, an Ogunbade termination on the third set point wrapped up the 25-11 final.
- Set Four
- The Pioneers once again started strong by scoring the first four points, but MACU managed to keep it close through the first 17 rallies as the Evangels scored seven of the next 10 to close it back to 7-all on Franz's palm shot finding an open spot in the middle.
- WBU tallied the next three before Mid-America Christian would completely flip the script on the Pioneers. Following a Sutaj service error, the Evangels put together a powerful run during Faith Foutch's service as MACU's defense forced five hitting errors 12-1 run as Stockhammer tooled it off the WBU block to make it a 19-11 game.
- The Evangels expanded their lead to as much as nine at 23-14 on a Sutaj hitting error before the Evangels eventually closed out a 25-17 win on Fehrle's power shot up the middle.
- Set Five
- The final set was a back-and-forth tug of war as the two squads turned in five ties and three lead changes through the first 10 rallies with the final tie coming on a Casady McKinney service error at 5-5.
- Following another Heidebrecht hitting miscue, the Evangels captured the momentum going into the side change as back-to-back terminations from Stockhammer and Walters brought it to 8-5.
- A side-out kill by Sutaj following the side change only briefly halted MACU's surge as three-straight Evangels points came off kills from Stockhammer and Fehrle before Gabreya Garcia's hitting miscue made it an 11-6 contest.
- Wayland Baptist fought back to close it to three at 13-10, but Jones and Nardi teamed up for a block to bring it to match point before Sutaj hit the ball out the side for an attack error to wrap-up the 15-10 final.
MATCH NOTES
- Mid-America Christian was the more efficient team in the attack, finishing with 62 kills on a .179 attack percentage while Wayland Baptist could only muster 44 kills on a .117 hitting rate.
- The Pioneers were able to make up a good chunk of the scoring differential in the block and at the service line as WBU out-blocked MACU 10-3 to go with a 10-3 differential in service aces.
- Once again, the Evangels produced well from the outside as Sawyer Franz turned in a match-high 20 kills on a .233 attack percentage while Lena Stockhammer finished with 19 terminations at a .292 clip.
- MACU's back-row defense was highly efficient with five players cracking into double-figure digs, led by Ludmilla Souza with 17 shovels to go with 20 assists. Casady McKinney also turned in a double-double for MACU in the setting efforts with 28 assists and 12 digs.
- With the victory, Mid-America Christian has now won seven straight meetings against Wayland Baptist dating back to Sept. 10, 2021.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will wrap-up the weekend with a matchup against Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 1 p.m. first serve inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
