CHICKASHA, Okla. – The MACU volleyball team brought a strong defensive effort to the USAO Fieldhouse in its Sooner Athletic Conference opener on Tuesday night as the Evangels cruised to a three-set sweep over Science & Arts.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Science & Arts 0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-22)
  • Mid-America Christian (4-4, 1-0 SAC)
  • Science & Arts (3-2, 0-1 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Lena Stockhammer – 11 Kills, .364 ATK%, 3 Blocks, 2 Digs
• Casady McKinney – 28 Assists, 4 Kills, .375 ATK%, 4 Digs, 2 Aces
• Marlee Hunter – 15 Digs
• Annabeth Fehrle – 6 Kills, .462 ATK%, 3 Blocks

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian dominated the first 20 rallies as a trio of service aces, two of which came from Sydney Martin to go along with five kills and a pair of blocks to jump out to a 16-4 lead following a Victoria Southerland attack error.
  • Late in the set, a Sawyer Franz termination followed by an assisted block by Lena Stockhammer gave the Evangels their largest lead of the match at 21-8.
  • Science & Arts started to get on a roll by scoring four unanswered, but the Evangels countered with four straight of their own as a pair of Stockhammer slams and an Annabeth Fehrle kill gave MACU the 25-12 win.
• Set Two
  • After jumping out to a 5-1 advantage to start set two, Mid-America Christian held the advantage through the first as a 4-1 surge near the midway point by MACU allowed the Evangels to grasp a 13-8 lead following back-to-back Franz kills.
  • In the second half, the Evangels utilized a commanding 8-1 run, including a string of six straight brought the edge out to 22-12 following consecutive terminations from Stockhammer and Franz.
  • The Drovers and Evangels traded three-unanswered streaks to close out the set as three consecutive USAO miscues ended set two at 25-15.
• Set Three
  • Science & Arts started out the third set with four straight points, but there was no panic in the Evangels as Franz kill both started and ended a 5-1 run to give MACU the 6-5 edge.
  • Going back-and-forth over the next six rallies, Mid-America Christian forced three Drovers errors to start an 8-1 streak as a pair of Sarah Jones kills, two Franz terminations and a Faith Foutch ace made it a 16-10 MACU advantage.
  • The Drovers rattled off five in a row to close the gap to just one, but Mid-America Christian slowly built its advantage back out to six as back-to-back Drovers attack miscues brought it to match-point at 24-18.
  • USAO made it close toward the end by scoring four-straight, but a Drovers service error by Victoria Southerland by sending it out the back abruptly ended the set and the match at 25-22.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian came out of the match on-fire, recording 11 kills on a .455 attack percentage in set one before closing out with 38 kills on a .255 hitting clip, the Evangels' second-highest attack rate of the season.
• A team that prides itself on defense, the Evangels managed to put together a stellar back-row effort by holding the Drovers to 23 kills on a .000 hitting percentage. A team that was struggling coming into the match in serve receive percentage at .896, the MACU defense had its best night in receiving, allowing just one ace to the Drovers.
• On-top of the back row, the Evangels also got some strong production from its front row as well, turning away the Drovers for five total blocks with Annabeth Fehrle and Lena Stockhammer each notching three assisted rejections.
• Offensively, Stockhammer put together one of her best matches of the season with 11 kills on a .364 attack percentage. Sawyer Franz also cracked into double-digit kills with 10 while narrowly missing a double-double with nine digs.
• MACU also got some strong production from its middles in Fehrle and Sarah Jones as each came away with six kills on .462 and .357 hitting percentages.
• After earning SAC Setter of the Week accolades, Casady McKinney put together another phenomenal effort, dishing out 28 assists (9.33 per set) with four kills on a .375 attack percentage, four digs and a pair of service aces.
• Marlee Hunter led MACU's back row with 15 digs while Faith Foutch also broke into double-digits with 11 shovels.
• With the victory, MACU's dominance over the Drovers continued, extending the win streak to 17 matches since USAO established its volleyball program in 2016 while 14 of those wins have come in straight-set sweep fashion.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its home-opener on Thursday as the Evangels will host crosstown rival Southwestern Christian for a 7 p.m. first serve inside the Gaulke Activity Center.