MCPHERSON, Kan. – The MACU volleyball team was able to come up with a second-straight SAC sweep and its third in the last four road matches as the Evangels smashed Central Christian inside the Jerry E. Alexander Arena on Saturday afternoon.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, Central Christian 0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-15
- Mid-America Christian (14-8, 10-5 SAC)
- Central Christian (1-21, 1-15 SAC)
TOP PERFOMERS
· Miriam Nardi – 10 Kills, .474 ATK%, 4 Blocks, 3 Digs
· Alica Obusekova – 9 Kills, .389 ATK%, 7 Digs, 2 Blocks
· Casady McKinney – 17 Assists, 9 Digs
· Sarah Jones-Stafford – 6 Blocks
MATCH SUMMARY
· Set One
o Both teams engaged in a point-for-point exchange through the first eight rallies before momentum switched to MACU's side as aside-out kill by Alica Obusekova sparked a 5-1 run to give MACU the 9-5 advantage.
o MACU continued to control the pace of play after back-to-back terminations by Miriam Nardi made it 16-9, drawing the first timeout of the day for Central Christian.
o The timeout proved to be effective for the Tigers as they were able to gather themselves to outscore the Evangels 8-6 to close the gap to 22-17.
o This comeback attempt ultimately fell short though as scored the final three with Lauryn Walters and Sarah Jones-Stafford teaming up for the block on set point wrap-up the 25-17 opening set win.
· Set Two
The Evangels caught fire to begin the second set, jumping out to a 9-0 lead that included two service aces from libero Sydney Martin as well as four MACU kills with Obusekova tallying a pair as well as Miriam Nardi and Walters notching one apiece.
o Despite MACU's commanding start, the Tigers responded by outscoring the Evangels on 10 of the next 16 rallies to close the gap to 15-10 on a setter dump kill by Maddie Nix.
o A side-out slam by Walters gave some breathing room for the Evangels and allowed them to get some momentum to eventually stretch their lead back out to nine at 21-12 following an Amanda Dotter attack error.
o Central Christian opted to use their last timeout which was again able to bring some life for the Tigers to draw it to 24-17 but a bad set by Nix missed its mark, which allowed MACU to seal its second-straight 25-17 set win.
· Set Three
o The Tigers kept things close through the first 16 rallies as a three-unanswered CCCK run allowed the Tigers to tie it up at 8-all before Natalia Rodriguez's side-out slam on the ensuing rally jumpstarted a 10-3 Evangels surge capped off on a Ryley Bowden ace to give MACU the 18-11 advantage.
o While Central Christian managed to claw it back to a 19-14 game, freshman Ava Johnson was able to provide a spark off the MACU bench, connecting for a pair of services aces late in the contest as the Evangels scored six of the last seven points to secure the 25-15 victory.
MATCH NOTES
· Mid-America Christian was able to maintain great control throughout the whole match with 32 kills on a .250 attack percentage of .250 while the Evangels held Central Christian to 23 kills, but forced 22 Tigers attack errors for an .011 hitting percentage.
· The Evangels attack was led by Miriam Nardi and Alica Obusekova with Nardi posting 10 kills on very impressive .474 attack percentage and Obusekova nearly had a double-double in just three sets with nine kills a blistering .389 attack percentage to go with and seven digs.
· Casady McKinney played a huge role for MACU in both the passing game and defensively as she dished out a match-high 17 assists while also leading the back-row defense with nine digs.
· The blocking game was also strong for the Evangels as the notched eight blocks in the three-set affair with Sarah Jones-Stafford coming up with six block assists while Nardi notched four assisted blocks of her own.
· Mid-America Christian shifted its recent fortunes inside Jerry E. Alexander Arena as the Evangels last two meetings against the Tigers in the venue ended in hard-fought, five-set affairs. Central Christian won the 2022 meeting before the MACU took the five-set battle last season. Instead, MACU improved to 16-1 in the all-time series while notching the program's 12th sweep.
UP NEXT
· Mid-America Christian will conclude its five-match SAC road stand on Wednesday, Oct. 23 as the Evangels will head down the road to Chickasha, Oklahoma for a 7 p.m. match against Science & Arts inside the Drover Fieldhouse.
