Mid-America Christian University

FORT WORTH, Texas – Facing one of its toughest opponents of the season in a road matchup, the MACU volleyball team was unable to get any sort of rhythm in the attack going inside the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday afternoon as the Evangels fell to No. 20 Texas Wesleyan in straight sets.
 
SCORE

• No. 20 Texas Wesleyan 3, Mid-America Christian 0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-15)
  • Mid-America Christian (6-7, 2-2 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (9-3, 4-0 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sawyer Franz – 11 Kills, .222 ATK%, 5 Digs
• Sarah Jones – 7 Kills, .400 ATK%
• Marlee Hunter – 26 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • A kill apiece from Sawyer Franz and Lena Stockhammer followed by a Marlee Hunter service ace got the Evangels off to a fast 3-1 start before Texas Wesleyan countered with nine unanswered as part of an 11-1 run to take a 12-4 lead midway through the set.
  • Three straight MACU kills by Stockhammer, Franz and Miriam Nardi closed the gap to five before the two teams traded the next four rallies to make it a 14-9 contest.
  • However, the Lady Rams all but put the set away behind a 7-1 surge as an Emily Lewis ace gave TWU its largest lead of the set at 21-10 before eventually closing out with the 25-14 win.
• Set Two
  • It was a close match through the first nine rallies as a Sarah Jones termination followed by a setting miscue by TWU's Victoria Da Silva briefly gave Mid-America Christian the 5-4 advantage.
  • Texas Wesleyan once again put together a nearly unstoppable run through the midway portion, scoring on 12 of the next 13 rallies to build a 17-6 lead on Sydney Alexander's kill.
  • MACU managed to trim the deficit to eight following an Alexander attack error and terminations from Annabeth Fehrle and Miriam Nardi, but the Evangels could climb no closer in the 25-15 defeat.
• Set Three
  • The first half of the third set was a back-and-forth battle with neither team able to gain larger than a four-point lead as a 4-1 MACU run powered behind a pair of Franz kills and a Stockhammer termination cut the Evangels' deficit to 11-10.
  • Once again, Texas Wesleyan pieced together a tough run, outscoring the Evangels 7-2 over the next nine rallies while grabbing ahold of the 18-12 advantage following back-to-back MACU attack errors.
  • The Evangels were unable to slow down the Lady Rams the rest of the way as TWU sealed the three-set win by a score of 25-15.

MATCH NOTES

• In the attack, Mid-America Christian could only muster just 30 kills while committing 23 attack errors for a .057 hitting percentage while Texas Wesleyan efficiently registered 41 kills and just nine miscues for a .278 attack rate.
• Despite the offensive struggles, Evangels freshman outside hitter Sawyer Franz recorded 11 kills on a solid .222 attack percentage while senior middle Sarah Jones also registered seven kills on a strong .400 hitting clip.
• Leading MACU's back row defense was Marlee Hunter, who shoved a career three-set high of 26 digs to go with a pair of assists.
• Running a 6-2 rotation, Casady McKinney led the distribution efforts with 15 assists while Ludmilla Souza chipped in 12 assists.
• Mid-America Christian was unable to find its first ever win over the powerhouse Texas Wesleyan volleyball program as the Lady Rams have now won 25 straight since the two teams started facing each other since 2005.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return home on Friday as the Evangels will host Central Christian for a 7 p.m. opening serve inside the Gaulke Activity Center.