SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – The MACU volleyball team was able to battle out a split against two tough opponents on the first day of the JBU Golden Eagle Invitational inside Bill George Arena on Friday afternoon as the Evangels rebounded from a 3-1 loss to Oklahoma Wesleyan to win a thrilling 3-2 victory over Bethel (Kan.) in the night cap.
 
Match One / Mid-America Christian vs. Oklahoma Wesleyan
SCORE

• Oklahoma Wesleyan 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23)
  • Mid-America Christian (0-1)
  • Oklahoma Wesleyan (1-0)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Lena Stockhammer – 13 Kills, .263 ATK%
• Sawyer Franz – 12 Kills, .206 ATK%, 15 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 21 Assists, 9 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Oklahoma Wesleyan controlled the first half of the set, utilizing a 7-1 run at one-point to hold a 13-7 lead at the midway point.
  • Two Lena Stockhammer kills and a Miriam Nardi termination during a 4-1 surge allowed the Evangels to climb back to within three at 15-12, but the Eagles controlled the rest of the set to run away with the 25-18 victory.
• Set Two
  • While OKWU managed to gain control after a back-and-forth affair to take a 14-11 lead, the Evangels were able to take advantage of three Eagles miscues during a string of four-straight points to grab a 15-14 edge.
  • Even though Oklahoma Wesleyan fought back to claim a 19-18 lead when Sawyer Franz was blocked at the net by Evelyn Rohrberg and Devon Scott, a Sarah Jones kill jumpstarted a 7-3 MACU run that was capped off on an assisted block by Annabeth Fehrle and Lena Stockhammer to come away with the 25-22 set win.
• Set Three
  • The Eagles jumped out to a five-point advantage when Stockhammer hit into the Eagles block to make it 8-3, MACU fought back with a 7-2 surge of its own featuring two Franz terminations and a Casady McKinney ace to make it 10-all.
  • OKWU took control for the rest of the set, outscoring the Evangels 13-3 over the next 16 rallies to stake a 23-13 lead before closing out with the 25-15 set win.
• Set Four
  • After swapping the first six rallies, Annabeth Fehrle's slam up the middle allowed MACU to score 11 of the next 15 points to double-up the Eagles at 14-7.
  • The Eagles managed to get the next two points back to close it to five, but MACU took its largest lead of the set on an OKWU attack error, a Ludmilla Souza ace and an Eagles block error to make it 18-10.
  • With MACU holding a 19-11 edge, the Eagles gained incredible momentum down the stretch, rattling off scores on 10 of the next 11 rallies to take a 21-20 lead before Franz's sideout kill drew it back even.
  • After trading the next four points, Oklahoma Wesleyan picked up its first win of the season on a Franz service error and a Rohrberg kill that just slipped through the MACU block, handing the Evangels the 25-23 defeat.

MATCH NOTES

• Oklahoma Wesleyan led the overall attack with 59 kills on a .229 attack percentage while holding the Evangels to just 43 kills on a .189 clip.
• Lena Stockhammer led the MACU attack with 13 kills on an efficient .263 attack percentage while freshman Sawyer Franz notched a double-double in her first collegiate match with 12 digs on a .206 attack rate to go with 15 digs.
• Casady McKinney led the MACU passing efforts with 21 assists to go with nine digs while Ludmilla Souza chipped 17 assists in her first match with MACU.
• While MACU's team blocking was able to register eight total blocks to just three for OKWU with Sarah Jones tallying six assisted blocks, the Evangels struggled to contain OKWU freshman outside hitter Evelyn Rohrberg, who tallied 26 kills on a blistering .340 hitting rate.
• While putting up a tough fight against one of the best teams from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC), the Evangels were unable to snap their four-match losing streak to the Eagles.

 
Match Two / Mid-America Christian vs. Bethel
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Bethel 2 (25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 15-10)
  • Mid-America Christian (1-1)
  • Bethel (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Lena Stockhammer – 17 Kills, .208 ATK%, 3 Digs
• Annabeth Fehrle – 14 Kills, .300 ATK%, 2 Digs
• Casady McKinney – 29 Assists, 11 Digs, 3 Kills, .750 ATK%, 3 Aces
• Marlee Hunter – 32 Digs, 5 Assists
• Sawyer Franz – 12 Kills, 21 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • After conceding the opening point, Mid-America Christian rattled off nine of the next 10 points as a Lena Stockhammer termination made it a 9-2 game.
  • Bethel tallied three-straight before the Evangels countered with six unanswered of their own as another Stockhammer slam gave MACU its largest lead of the game at 15-5.
  • Following a Casady McKinney ace to stretch it back to a 10-point edge at 19-9, the Threshers slowly battled back, including surviving three set-points to close it to 24-18. However, Annabeth Fehrle split the blockers down the middle for the game-point kill to secure the win for MACU.
• Set Two
  • After scoring six of the first seven to open the second set behind two McKinney aces and a kill apiece from Stockhammer and Sawyer Franz, Bethel managed to keep it to within striking distance by splitting the next 12 points.
  • The MACU attack came alive on the 20^th rally of the set as the Evangels notched five straight kills as Franz and Sarah Jones notched a pair of kills apiece to go with a McKinney termination to bring the advantage to 17-7.
  • Stretching the lead to as much as 12, the Evangels were unable to maintain the momentum as a blistering Bethel squad went on a 10-1 streak to close it to 21-18 on a Brooke Russell ace.
  • Another Ferhle kill on the ensuing rally righted the Evangels ship down the stretch as MACU scored four of the final five as a Ludmilla Souza service ace and a Ferhle termination preceded Stockhammer finishing off the set by finding a spot in the back-left corner to a kill, sealing the 25-19 result.
• Set Three
  • The Threshers captured the early momentum by scoring five in a row after conceding the first two to MACU, but the Evangels battled back behind a 7-2 run to reclaim the 10-8 lead off a BC attack error.
  • The two squads battled back and forth over the next nine rallies before Bethel mustered another 5-1 run to take back the 18-15 edge.
  • MACU fought its way back to tie it on three different occasions, the last coming on a Harlie Hunton attack error to make it 22-all, but the Threshers won three of the last four rallies as Kylah Carter's kill gave BC its first set win of the night at 25-23.
• Set Four
  • Bethel carried its momentum over into the first half of the fourth set as the Threshers scored six of the first eight points before eventually building its edge out to 14-7 on a Darla Crow kill that fortuitously rolled across the top of the net before finding an open spot on the near right corner.
  • The Evangels shook off the rocky start in the second half as a Franz kill and a Fehrle ace jumpstarted a big 11-4 run for MACU as the pair wrapped up the streak with back-to-back terminations to draw it even at 18-all.
  • While both teams managed to trade a pair of three-unanswered bursts, the Threshers finished off the set stronger by scoring four of the final five, claiming the 25-22 win and forcing the decisive fifth set.
• Set Five
  • Neither team was able to gain much an advantage through the first half as both teams were only able to capture as large as a one-point lead. Lauryn Walters sent the Evangels into the side switch with the 8-7 edge before a MACU net violation on the block drew it back even.
  • BC's Darla Crow ended up giving the lead back to Mid-America Christian for good by putting a serve in the net while three Threshers attack errors and a pair of Miriam Nardi put-downs pushed MACU out to match-point at 14-9.
  • Even though an aggressive Threshers block was able to keep Fehrle from finishing off the match on the first match-point, BC couldn't stop Stockhammer as a senior outside went cross court toward the back-right corner as her attack glanced off the arms of the libero and out the back for the match-sealing termination.

MATCH NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian was able to out-hit Bethel with 62 kills on a .169 attack percentage to 42 kills on a .102 clip, the Evangels struggled against the Threshers aggressive block as BC came up with 17 rejections at the net to just one for MACU. The 17 blocks by BC was the most an opponent has recorded against the Evangels since Northwood (Fla.) (now known as Keiser) notched 19 on Oct. 12, 2007.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian improved to 5-1 all-time against Bethel. After facing each other just twice before 2020, the Evangels own a 4-0 record against the Threshers during head coach Holly McKamie's four-year tenure and the match marked the first time in the series the two teams went to five sets.
• While Lena Stockhammer led the MACU attack efforts with 17 kills on a .208 attack percentage, the Evangels got some big-time production out of Annabeth Fehrle in the middle, tallying a career-best 14 kills on a .300 hitting clip.
• For the second straight match to start off her MACU career, Sawyer Franz recorded another double-double with 12 kills to go with 21 digs while Casady McKinney also contributed a double-double with a match-high 29 assists and 11 digs to go with three service aces.
• Marlee Hunter led the back-row defense with a match-best 32 digs, averaging an astonishing 6.4 per set rate.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be looking to wrap-up the JBU Golden Eagle Invitational with a winning record tomorrow as the Evangels will close out the event with their first ever meeting against Texas A&M-Texarkana at 11 a.m. inside Bill George Arena.