OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU volleyball team showed grit and determination, battling back from a set down to defeat Science & Arts in a five-set thriller inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Science & Arts 2 (25-16, 24-26, 22-25, 25-15, 15-13)
  • Mid-America Christian (12-8, 8-3 SAC)
  • Science & Arts (7-9, 4-7 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Miriam Nardi – 20 Kills, .457 ATK%, 5 Digs, 4 Blocks
• Sawyer Franz – 20 Kills, .185 ATK%, 6 Digs
• Ludmilla Souza – 39 Assists, 10 Digs, 4 Aces, 2 Kills
• Marlee Hunter – 31 Digs, 4 Assists, 2 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • After Science & Arts briefly claimed a 3-2 lead in the early going, Miriam Nardi's side-out termination jumpstarted a six-unanswered surge as part of an 11-3 run as an Annabeth Fehrle solo block gave MACU the 13-6 lead at the midway point.
  • Four straight Drovers points allowed USAO to close it to within three at 13-10, but the Evangels dominated the rest of the way as a string of four-straight MACU points featuring two Ludmilla Souza service aces allowed the Evangels to run away with the 25-16 set win.
• Set Two
  • The first 13 rallies provided a back-and-forth battle, but kills from Nardi and Lena Stockhammer during a 4-0 run allowed MACU to grab a brief 10-7 lead.
  • During the midway portion of the set, Science & Arts scored on nine of 11 rallies to seize control of the set at 17-13.
  • Mid-America Christian fought its way back, tying the set up on four different occasions down the stretch, which included a Sawyer Franz kill and a Casady McKinney ace to send it into extra points at 24-24.
  • However, the Drovers finished off the set by getting a Samantha Perez kill to get it to set point before Tara Utornik and Bruna Duarte teamed up to block Franz at the net to wrap-up the 26-24 win for USAO.
• Set Three
  • USAO grabbed the early control of the third set and slowly built its lead out to a commanding 16-9 advantage following a Perez service ace.
  • Following an error by Perez on the ensuing serve, Mid-America Christian stormed back in the match by scoring nine of the next 10 points, featuring three Nardi terminations with the last one in the run giving MACU the 18-17 edge.
  • While the next eight rallies were a back-and-forth fight, Science & Arts closed out the set strong by scoring on the final four rallies as another assisted block by Perez and Victoria Southerland on Fehrle's set point attack try sealed the 25-22 win.
• Set Four
  • It appeared the Drovers captured the early momentum in set four following three straight USAO points to start, but the Evangels countered with five straight of their own to start a dominant 12-3 MACU run as a Stockhammer slam made it a 12-6 game at the midway point.
  • Even though USAO managed to keep to within five over the next seven rallies, Mid-America Christian all but put the set out of reach with a feisty offensive attack as two Franz kills and terminations apiece by Nardi and Stockhammer to go along with Nardi and Jones' assisted block all but put the set out of reach for USAO at 20-10.
  • The Drovers tried to keep it interesting by scoring the next four, but MACU closed out by scoring five of the final six as back-to-back Franz kills brought it to set point before McKinney ended it with an ace to wrap-up the 25-15 final.
• Set Five
  • Even though MACU conceded the first point in the final set, Mid-America Christian put the Drovers in a tough position as the Evangels scored on eight of the next 11 rallies as Fehrle's finish gave MACU the 8-4 lead heading into the side change.
  • While MACU was able to briefly grab a five-point edge at 11-6, Science & Arts refused to go down without a fight as USAO tallied seven of the next 10 points, including surviving two match points to close the gap to 14-13.
  • On a must-win rally for USAO, Nardi dashed the Drovers dreams of winning the match by slamming the match-winning kill from the right side to center, wrapping up the 15-13 win for MACU.

MATCH NOTES

• The Mid-America Christian attack not only had one of its best matches of the season, but also one of its best matches in the NAIA Era (2007-present) as the Evangels' 69 kills is the third-most terminations in that time frame while the 64 assists was also the fourth-most dimes in a match.
• On-top of registering many kills, the Evangels were also efficient in their attack, notching their third-highest attack percentage of the season at .263 while MACU as a whole tallied 92 points for its most in a match this season.
• Science & Arts managed to put together a valiant effort against a very strong MACU defense, tallying 55 kills on a .223 hitting clip.
• Even with its high kill count, Mid-America Christian was just as excellent from the service line, finishing with its second-most service aces in a match this season with 14 while committing just eight service errors while the Drovers could only notch six aces against MACU's serve receive while committing eight service miscues.
• Mid-America Christian's balanced offensive attack was headlined by junior right side Miriam Nardi, who put down a career-high 20 kills on a season-high .457 attack percentage. Nardi also came away with four blocks at the net while also tallying five digs.
• After being held to just six kills on a -.005 attack percentage through the first two sets, freshman outside hitter Sawyer Franz found her stride over the final three, notching 14 kills on a .355 attack percentage to finish with 20 kills on a .185 clip for the match.
• Lena Stockhammer also put together a solid performance in the attack, registering 14 kills on a .375 attack rate while Annabeth Fehrle chimed in with eight kills on a .292 attack percentage.
• The setting tandem of Ludmilla Souza and Casady McKinney proved lethal in both the passing game and from the service line. Souza turned in a double-double effort with a career-high 39 assists and 10 digs to go with a career-best four aces while McKinney dished out 20 dimes and four service aces of her own.
• Marlee Hunter led MACU's back row efforts with 31 digs, averaging 6.2 digs per set to go along with four assists and two aces.
• Despite being limited in the attack, Sarah Jones proved to be a stalwart at the net, chiming in with five assisted blocks.
• The match marked just the second time in program history that MACU and Science & Arts went to five sets as the Evangels improved to 18-0 all-time against the Drovers.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back on the road on Saturday as the Evangels will head to Bethany, Oklahoma for a 1 p.m. matchup against Southwestern Christian inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.