OKLAHOMA CITY – Facing an energized No. 5 seed Oklahoma City squad in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal, the No. 4 seed MACU Volleyball team was unable to slow down the Stars assertive attack, falling in straight-sets in the SAC Quarterfinal inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday night.
SCORE
- Oklahoma City 3, Mid-America Christian 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-23)
- Mid-America Christian (19-11)
- Oklahoma City (15-14)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Neither team was able to grab larger than a two-point advantage through the first 20 rallies as MACU did go a on a four-point run behind an Annabeth Fehrle kill, an Alica Obusekova service ace and back-to-back Natalia Rodriguez kill to make it an 8-6 Evangels lead.
- However, the Stars seized the advantage halfway through by putting together a 7-2 run to capture the 16-12 advantage, forcing MACU head coach Holly McKamie to exhaust a timeout.
- Even the Evangels were able to counter by scoring five of the next seven following the break, closing it to a one-point game at 18-17 on a Fehrle finish, Oklahoma City caught fire following a Rylee Steward slam as OCU scored the final seven points to secure the 25-17 opening set win.
- Set Two
- Mid-America Christian managed to capture the early lead by taking advantage of four Stars miscues and a Lena Stockhammer kill to open with a 5-1 advantage and even though OCU managed to cut a few points back in MACU's edge, the Evangels extended it back to four at 9-5 on back-to-back terminations from Obusekova and Fehrle.
- After trading a pair of two-point swings, Oklahoma City swung momentum to its size following a Grace Smallwood kill and ace as the Stars went on a 6-2 run to tie it up at 13-all midway through.
- A Jaiden Downey service error on the ensuing point would give MACU its final lead of the set as once again OCU closed out by scoring 12 of the final 14 points to seal the 25-16 win.
- Set Three
- With its backs against the wall, it looked like MACU was not going to go down with out a fight as the Evangels scored seven of the first nine points of the set with four points coming off kills from Miriam Nardi (2), Stockhammer and Rodriguez to go with a Casady McKinney service ace.
- With both teams perfectly executing side-out scoring over the next 10 rallies, the last for MACU coming on a Sarah Jones-Stafford kill to make it 12-7, the Stars started finding their stride in the second half as a 7-1 OCU surge allowed the Stars to grab their first lead of the set at 14-13.
- Even though MACU managed to score five of the next seven to retake an 18-16 lead, OCU rattled off three in a row to capture the one-point edge once again at 19-18.
- Mid-America Christian looked as though it might close out the set strong following back-to-back kills by Fehrle and Nardi before McKinney tallied consecutive aces to make it 22-19, Oklahoma City's ability to close out was undeniable as the Stars scored six of the final seven to secure the 25-23 victory.
MATCH NOTES
- Coming into the match as one of the best defenses in the SAC, Mid-America Christian could do little to slow down Oklahoma City's aggressive attack as the Stars recorded 41 kills on a .258 hitting percentage, the most kills and attack rate MACU had allowed in a three-set match all season while the Evangels could only muster 32 terminations on an .098 hitting clip, it's fourth-lowest rate of the season.
- For the first time this season, freshman middle blocker Natalia Rodriguez led the MACU attack with seven kills on the team's highest individual attack percentage at .267 while the only other Evangel to hit for higher than .200 on more than 10 attempts was Lena Stockhammer with five finishes at a .222 rate.
- MACU's setter duo of Casady McKinney and Madison Lee put up some solid numbers with both finishining with double-doubles. McKinney ended her night with 13 assists and 12 digs to go with three service aces while Madison Lee ended her night with 12 assists and 10 digs as well as two dimes from the line as well.
- Ryley Bowden led MACU's back row defensive efforts with 14 digs to go with four assists in the passing game.
- By getting the win, Oklahoma City snapped MACU's six-match win streak over the Stars while also handing the Evangels their only three-set loss of the season inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
UP NEXT
- By wrapping up the regular season with a 19-11 record, Mid-America Christian earned the No. 1 seed for the NCCAA Central Region Tournament, which will be hosted by College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri from Nov. 18-19.
The Evangels will have a bye in the opening round and will face the winner of the York (Neb.) and Mission (Mo.) match in the semifinal round at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
