OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off a difficult loss on Wednesday, the MACU volleyball team was able to execute a clean conference sweep over College of the Ozarks to open a four-match home stand on Friday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center.  
 
SCORE 

• Mid-America Christian 3, College of the Ozarks 0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-19)  
  • Mid-America Christian (15-9, 11-6 SAC)    
  • College of the Ozarks (12-11, 8-9 SAC) 

 
TOP PERFOMERS  

• Miriam Nardi – 13 Kills, .367 ATK%

• Lena Stockhammer – 8 Kills, .185 ATK% 

• Casady McKinney – 17 Assists, 10 Digs 

• Sarah Jones-Stafford – 6 Kills, .250 ATK%, 3 Blocks
• Ryley Bowden – 14 Digs, 6 Assists, 2 Aces

 
MATCH SUMMARY 

• Set One  
  • After conceding the first point, Mid-America Christian found its stride following a side-out kill by Miriam Nardi that sparked a 7-0 run including two aces from Sydney Martin to give MACU an early 7-1 lead.
  • College of the Ozarks was able to fight back midway through the set spreading the attack connecting for their first five kills coming from five different players to cut the Evangel lead to 12-7.  
  • It appeared as though MACU was going to run away with the set, the Bobcats were able to string together some late life, going on a 9-4 surge to bring it to a three-point match at 23-20.  
  • A crucial side-out termination by Nardi brought the Evangels to match point but a Bobcat side-out kill by Bri Linehan followed by a Brooklyn Crawford kill and another Linehan termination to threaten sending the set into extra points at 24-23.
  • Following a MACU timeout Sarah Jones-Stafford provided the set point kill to give the Evangels a 25-23 set victory. 

• Set Two 
  • Despite a strong offensive showing from both teams in set one, set two began in the opposite fashion with both teams slugging a negative attack percentage through the first 18 rallies.  
  • Mid-America Christian grabbed the advantage in the 13^th rally as Lena Stockhammer's side-out slam jumpstarted a 9-4 Evangels run capped off on a Sarah Jones-Stafford kill and a Ryley Bowden service ace to make it 15-10.
  • The Bobcats closed the gap to 17-15 before the Evangels fired off a 6-0 streak that featured a service ace from Natalia Rodriguez and a pair of assisted blocks by Annabeth Fehlre and Stafford to extend the lead to 23-15. 
  • A COFO kill from Christa Duffel only momentarily stopped the bleeding as Fehrle and Stafford teamed up on their third block in six rallies to bring it to set point before Nardi finished it off by slamming down the kill to wrap-up the 25-16 win.  

• Set Three 
  • The two teams went blow-for-blow through the first 19 rallies before Mid-America Christian fired off a 7-2 streak capped off on an Alica Obusekova kill to make it a 17-11 Evangels advantage.
  • COFO answered back with 3-0 run including the ninth kill of the night by senior middle hitter Bailey Chamberlain to bring it to 18-16.  
  • Electing to use its first timeout of the set was a wise decision for MACU as it allowed them to gather themselves and tack on two more points on kills by Stockhammer and Nardi to force the Bobcats to use a timeout of their own.  
  • Casady McKinney came through with a dump kill to continue the slight MACU run followed by another kill by Stockhammer to draw the score to 22-16. 
  • The Bobcats were able to tack on a few more, but it ultimately would not be enough as Obusekova was able to strike the match point kill to give MACU the 25-19 victory.  

MATCH NOTES  

• Mid-America Christian was able to out-hit the Bobcats striking 39 kills on a .200 attack percentage compared to College of the Ozarks' 33 kills on a .102 attack percentage.  

• Both teams orchestrated solid offensive play in set one with both teams finishing over .300 on the attack percentage, however that narrative quickly changed as the Bobcats were unable to hit better than .100 percentage points in either of the last two sets.

• Miriam Nardi once again led the charge for MACU as she bounced back from a tough USAO match to slash 13 kills on a .367 attack percentage.
• Fellow seniors Sarah Jones-Stafford and Lena Stockhammer had solid nights as well with Stafford coming through with the match point in set two with six kills and three blocks on the night. Stockhammer had herself an efficient night with eight kills.
• Casady McKinney led the distribution efforts with her seventh double-double, dishing out 17 assists to go with 10 digs while Ryley Bowden led the back row defensive efforts with 14 digs.

• With the victory the Evangels pick up the series sweep over College of the Ozarks in its first season in the Sooner Athletic Conference. With this win it brings MACU's all-time record to 5-1 against the Bobcats.
• The win also allowed the Evangels to hold serve at No. 5 in the SAC standings, sitting just a half-game back of Wayland Baptist for fourth and a game back of Oklahoma City for third.

UP NEXT 

• Mid-America Christian will host another pivotal conference match inside the Gaulke Activity Center at 1 p.m. on Saturday as the Evangels are set to battle John Brown.