BETHANY, Okla. – The MACU volleyball team put together its best offensive performance of the season inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon as the Evangels swept Southwestern Christian in straight sets.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Southwestern Christian 0 (25-18, 25-10, 25-13)
  • Mid-America Christian (13-8, 9-3 SAC)
  • Southwestern Christian (4-15, 1-11 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sawyer Franz – 13 Kills, .458 ATK%, 11 Digs
• Miriam Nardi – 9 Kills, .474 ATK%
• Ludmilla Souza – 21 Assists, 7 Digs
• Marlee Hunter – 14 Digs, 5 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • The two teams were relatively even through the first 14 rallies as neither team could grab larger than a two-point lead before Mid-America Christian strung together a 6-2 run midway through the set to grab a 13-9 lead on a Ludmilla Souza service ace.
  • SCU managed to close the gap to 17-14 following a Marlee Hunter service ace, but Annabeth Fehrle side-out termination jumpstarted a four-point Evangels swing as an SCU ballhandling error, a Casady McKinney service ace and Sawyer Franz kill made it a 21-14 game.
  • After SCU captured three of the next four, the Evangels countered with a 3-1 run of their own as Lena Stockhammer smashed a set point kill from the left side off the right side back row defender for a kill, sealing the 25-18 win.
• Set Two
  • MACU came out with all of the momentum to start the second set. After Southwestern Christian briefly grabbed a 3-2 lead through the first five rallies, Mid-America Christian went on a dominant (9-1) to capture an 11-4 advantage on a Franz kill, forcing the Eagles to call a timeout.
  • Even though SCU was able to get a side-out kill from Paige McGee out of the break, the Evangels forced Southwestern Christian to call its final timeout following another 6-1 run that featured three Faith Foutch service aces to make it 17-6.
  • Mid-America Christian never led by less than 10 the rest of the way as MACU pulled away with the 25-10 victory on a Franz kill tooled off the SCU block.
• Set Three
  • The final set was close through the first half as MACU held a 12-10 advantage through the first half, but the Evangels grabbed the momentum at the start of the second as a Sarah Jones termination ignited an 8-1 Evangels run that was also capped off on a Jones kill to set the score to 20-11.
  • A Dasia Ingram kill on the ensuing rally was not enough to slow down the Evangels as MACU scored five of the final six, wrapping the match up on Fehrle's match point kill up the middle to seal the 25-13 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the match with 43 kills on a .375 attack percentage, committing just seven attack errors for the fewest hitting miscues since tallying only five against College of the Ozarks in the NCCAA Central Region Championship match on Nov. 18, 2021.
• Defensively, the Evangels held Southwestern Christian to only 16 kills on a .078 hitting clip, tying for its third-fewest kills in a match this year.
• Once again, MACU excelled from the service line, tallying 10 aces to only six errors while the Eagles mustered just four aces and five errors against the Evangels. Faith Fouth and Casady McKinney led the MACU serving efforts with three aces apiece.
• Sawyer Franz paved the way for the MACU attack with 13 kills on a .458 attack percentage to go with 11 digs while Miriam Nardi had another outstanding match in the attack, notching nine kills on a .474 hitting clip.
• Ludmilla Souza led the distribution efforts with 21 assists and seven digs while Marlee Hunter led the back row defensively with 14 digs and five assists.
• The Evangels completed the season sweep over Southwestern Christian after getting a 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-14 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Aug. 31. The Evangels also avenged a loss to SCU inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium last season in a five-set match on Oct. 13, 2022.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its toughest home weekends of the season as the Evangels will be back in-action on Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 17 Texas Wesleyan inside the Gaulke Activity Center.