OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team wrapped up Sooner Athletic Conference play on a major high note as the Evangels bounced back from a grueling five-set defeat at home against John Brown with a dominant 3-0 sweep over Oklahoma City inside Abe Lemons Arena on Thursday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 0 (25-9, 25-16, 25-21)
  • Mid-America Christian (11-8, 7-3 SAC)
  • Oklahoma City (8-7, 7-3 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Marlee Hunter – 19 Digs, 6 Assists, 2 Aces
• Sawyer Franz – 11 Kills, 7 Digs
• Ludmilla Souza – 13 Assists, 5 Digs, 3 Aces
• Miriam Nardi – 7 Kills, .294 ATK%

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • In the first third, Mid-America Christian rattled off five-unanswered featuring kills apiece from Miriam Nardi and Sawyer Franz, but the Stars battled back to cut it to a two-point deficit on a pair of occasions, the last coming on an assisted block by Rylee Steward and Natalie Adams to make it a 7-5 game.
  • Another Nardi side-out slam ignited an incredible Evangels streak, as MACU scored 10 of the next 11 on a pair of five-unanswered runs, setting the score to 17-6 following a Gabrielle Fjeseth attack error.
  • The Stars were unable to get anything going following Franz's service error to end the run, as MACU scored eight of the next 10 to secure the dominant 25-9 victory on Sydney Martin's set point service ace.
• Set Two
  • The Evangels got off to a similar start in the second set, rattling off the first four points while scoring six of the first seven to grab hold of an early 6-1 lead following Nardi's third termination of the match.
  • After trading the next three rallies, Mid-America Christian asserted its dominance for the rest of the set as Annabeth Fehre's side-out kill jumpstarted a four-unanswered run as put-downs by Lena Stockhammer, Franz and Casady McKinney made it an 11-4 lead nearing the midway point.
  • With MACU holding an eight-point cushion, the Evangels all but put the set out of reach for the Stars after stringing together eight straight points during Marlee Hunter's service as the junior libero tallied a pair of aces to go with a kill and a block for Nardi while OCU as a whole hit into five attack errors during the run to make it 23-7.
  • Oklahoma City did put up a tough fight down the stretch, scoring nine of the next 10 points to cut MACU's lead in-half, but the Evangels finally finished off set point when Fehrle powered a kill through the Stars block to wrap-up the 25-16 win.
• Set Three
  • The Stars carried their momentum into the start of the third set, utilizing a 5-0 run to take the lead and carry a 12-8 advantage into the midway point following an assisted block by Michaela de Stefano and Steward on Lauryn Walters attack try from the right.
  • Following a Natalie Adams service error, Mid-America Christian recomposed itself by putting up an 8-1 surge capped off on a Franz termination to set the score to 16-13.
  • The Stars briefly drew it back even following three-unanswered of their own, but MACU countered with four in a row as Nardi's finish made it 20-16.
  • OCU managed to cut it to a two-point game on a pair of occasions, but the Evangels took care of business over the final four rallies, scoring on three of them as Stockhammer powered a kill down on match point to seal the 25-21 result.

MATCH NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian struggled a little bit against the top blocking team in the SAC, finishing with 31 kills on a .152 hitting percentage, the Evangels held Oklahoma City to its worst hitting percentage since 2016 as the Stars recorded just 25 terminations on a -.009 attack clip. It is just the second time in the last seven years that OCU has hit for a negative percentage in a match.
• Even though Sawyer Franz led the match with 11 kills on a .103 attack percentage, the Evangels got some strong offensive support from Miriam Nardi, Lena Stockhammer and Annabeth Fehrle. Nardi turned in seven kills on a .294 attack rate, Stockhammer tallied five on a .400 clip and Fehrle notched four on a .300 percentage.
• Both of MACU's setters produced solid outings as Ludmilla Souza dished out 13 assists to go with five digs and three aces while Casady McKinney finished with 11 assists and four digs.
• Marlee Hunter put together another outstanding match in the MACU back row, shoveling out an astounding 19 digs on a 6.3 per set rate to go with six assists and a pair of aces.
• One of the big reasons for MACU's stellar defensive outing stemmed from its defensive play at the net, turning in six blocks as Fehrle finished with a team-high four rejections on one solo and a pair of assisted.
• With the win, MACU has now won three straight matches against the Stars, including the last two inside Abe Lemons Arena after the Evangels had never won inside the venue until last season.
• The victory also allowed the Evangels to move into a three-way tie for third in the SAC standings with Oklahoma City and John Brown with a 7-3 league mark at the midway point of conference play.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back at home on Tuesday, Oct. 3 as the Evangels will host Science & Arts inside the Gaulke Activity Center for a 7 p.m. first serve.