POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Facing a pesky No. 5 Mission team that stunned No. 4 York in the play-in game, the top-seeded MACU Volleyball team was able to fend off the Patriots inside Keeter Gymnasium as the Evangels came away with a 3-1 win in the NCCAA Central Region Semifinal to secure their spot in tomorrow's Championship game.

It'll be the second-straight year MACU will be competing for the regional title after claiming the Championship on its home court last season.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Mission 1 (25-16, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20)
  • Mid-America Christian (20-11)
  • Mission (15-23)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sarah Jones-Stafford – 12 Kills, .706 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Alica Obusekova – 11 Kills, .214 ATK%, 12 Digs, 5 Blocks
• Natalia Rodriguez – 9 Kills, .364 ATK%, 4 Blocks, 3 Digs
• Madison Lee – 18 Assists, 15 Digs
• Ryley Bowden – 21 Digs, 5 Assists, 3 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • After trading the first two points, a Sarah Jones-Stafford side-out kill ignited a dominant 9-1 Evangels run as back-to-back Ryley Bowden service aces and a Rachel Fowler setting miscue gave Mid-America Christian the dominant 10- 2 advantage.
  • Mission clawed a pair of points back before the Evangels took their largest lead of the set following four-unanswered as Annabeth Fehrle's termination made it a 14-4 MACU advantage.
  • The Patriots refused to go down without a fight as MU rattled off a 9-3 run to close the gap to 17-13 on an assisted block by Maddie Rue and Ella Sims on Miriam Nardi's attack attempt.
  • However, the Evangels countered well by closing out the set with an 8-3 run its own to take the opening set, 25-16.
• Set Two
  • Even through the first six rallies, Mission grabbed an early three-point advantage by scoring the next three unanswered, however, the Evangels captured a massive advantage heading into the midway point by rattling off an 11-1 run capped off on a Stafford slam to double-up the MACU lead at 14-7.
  • The Patriots continued to be pesky, putting together and 8-2 surge to close it to a 16-15 game. The Evangels briefly pushed their lead back out to four on a Stafford kill, a MU attack error and a Sydney Martin service ace, but MU once again scored three more of its own to trim the gap back to 19-18.
  • An emphatic Alica Obusekova side-out kill allowed the Evangels to finish the set strong, scoring six of the final eight as Fehrle finish knocked off the MU block allowed MACU to seal the 25-20 win.
• Set Three
  • The first 18 rallies were a back-and-forth battle between both squads as neither team was able to gain larger than a two-point advantage before a Sims kill ignited a 9-1 Patriots run to grab a commanding 18-10 advantage.
  • Mid-America Christian surged its way back behind the serves of Bowden and Madison Lee as the Evangels strung together a 9-1 run of their own to tie the set back up at 19-all.
  • While Mission managed to take the next to hold a slim 21-19 edge, MACU swung back with three-unanswered to grab the late lead on back-to-back Natalia Rodriguez kills. However, the Evangels were unable to close it out as Mission scored the final four points to steal the 25-22 win.
• Set Four
  • Mission managed to keep things close through the first 23 rallies before MACU took advantage of three consecutive Patriots errors to stretch its advantage to 16-12.
  • The Patriots made one last push to close the gap to 19-18 on three-straight kills by Abbi Street, but after trading the next two points, Mid-America Christian found its stride on a net violation on Lauryn Walters side-out kill as MACU scored five of the final six points as Obusekova came away with the match-point kill to secure the 25-20 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Even though Mid-America Christian was able to win the match by nine points in the first set and five points in the second and fourth sets, the Evangels still finished with only three more kills (54-51), but the biggest differential was the effectiveness in the attack, committing six fewer attack errors to finish with a .232 hitting clip to a .162 for the Patriots.
• The service line also played a massive impact in the outcome as MACU finished with eight aces to only six errors while Mission recorded just two aces to go with six miscues of its own.
• Jones-Stafford turned in one of the best performances of her Evangels career, notching a season-high 12 kills on a career-best .706 hitting percentage to go with a pair of blocks.
• Alica Obusekova led MACU's pin-hitters with 11 kills on a .214 attack rate and was downright excellent on the defensive end, notching a double-double with 12 digs to go with a career-high five blocks.
• Annabeth Fehrle rounded out MACU's double-digit hitters with 10 kills at a .212 clip while Natalia Rodriguez put together another strong match with nine terminations at a .364 hitting rate with four blocks and three digs.
• Madison Lee led MACU's setting efforts with 18 assists to go with her double-double effort of 15 digs while Casady McKinney finished with 17 assists, seven digs and notched three setter dump kills on a .600 hitting percentage.
• Ryley Bowden led MACU's back-row efforts with 21 digs and also notched three service aces to go with five assists.
• With the victory, the Evangels improved to 3-0 against Mission this season after meeting the Patriots twice during non-conference play as all three matches were decided by 3-1 decisions. Overall, MACU improved to 12-2 all-time in the series since 2003.
• The win also allowed MACU to record its fourth-consecutive 20-plus win seasons under fifth-year head coach Holly McKamie, who notched 19 wins during her first season at the helm (19-15).

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will see another familiar foe in the NCCAA Central Region Championship match on Wednesday as the Evangels will face off against tournament host College of the Ozarks for a 6 p.m. first serve.