OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU volleyball team celebrated Alumni Day inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon as the Evangels swept Sooner Athletic Conference rival Langston 3-0.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Langston 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-10)
  • Mid-America Christian (8-7, 4-2 SAC)
  • Langston (1-12, 0-6 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sawyer Franz – 16 Kills, .406 ATK%, 3 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Ludmilla Souza – 16 Assists, 9 Digs, 2 Aces
• Marlee Hunter – 10 Digs, 4 Assists, 4 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian found itself in an early 6-1 hole after giving up six consecutive points on three straight service aces.
  • After trading the next two rallies, Sawyer Franz gave MACU some big-time momentum with four straight kills during an 11-1 run as the freshman outside tallied seven terminations during the run to build a 13-8 Evangels advantage.
  • Langston managed to close the gap on two different occasions, the last coming on assisted block by Brooklyn Cross and Karma Williams on Sarah Jones' attack up the middle to make it 16-14, however the Evangels closed out the set by winning nine of the final 12 rallies to seal a 25-17 win.
• Set Two
  • The first half of the set was a true back-and-forth battle that featured nine ties and three lead changes before a mis-hit by Lena Stockhammer on the 31^st rally gave the Lady Lions the 16-15 edge.
  • Annabeth Fehrle's sideout termination on the ensuing rally jumpstarted an unstoppable Evangels streak. Mid-America Christian closed out the set by scoring the final 10 points to seal a 25-16 win.
  • Fehrle came up with three big points during the run by also getting a pair of service aces to go with terminations by Jones and Lauryn Walters while the Lady Lions also notched five attack errors.
• Set Three
  • After trading a pair of 3-0 runs to start the set, a strong swing by Jones for a sideout kill ignited a powerful 15-3 MACU streak, grabbing an 18-6 lead on Casady McKinney's service ace.
  • The Evangels continued to dominate and pull away as the Evangels scored seven of the final 10 before Ludmilla Souza put the match away with an ace off the arms of the back-row defender to wrap-up the 25-10 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• In the attack, Mid-America Christian registered 40 kills on a .208 attack percentage while the Evangels defensively held Langston to its second-fewest kills (12) on its second-lowest attack percentage of the season at -.080.
• A big part of the Evangels offense came from the service line as MACU finished with 14 aces to only six errors and while the Lady Lions only scored six aces, they also only committed just one service miscue.
• Sawyer Franz commanded the MACU attack, tying her career-high with 16 kills while hitting for a career-best .406 attack percentage to go with three digs and two blocks.
• Running a 6-2 rotation, the Evangels got some great production from its setters as Ludmilla Souza narrowly missed a double-double with a match-high 16 assists, nine digs and two aces while Casady McKinney finished with 13 digs, six digs and three aces.
• Marlee Hunter led a balanced back row effort for MACU with 10 digs to also go with four service aces and four assists.
• With the victory, Mid-America Christian has now won 12 straight matches against Langston and with the sweep, have won 27 straight sets against the Lady Lions.
• The win also moves MACU into a three-way tie for third in the SAC standings with Oklahoma City and Wayland Baptist with a 4-2 league mark.
• Between the second and third set, the MACU volleyball team recognized its alumni in attendance before holding an Alumni Game at 3:30 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back on the road next weekend as the Evangels will travel to Goodwell, Oklahoma on Friday, Sept. 22 for a 6 p.m. matchup against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside Anchor D Arena.