VB OCU Postgame - 11/1/24
Richard Clifton
2
Oklahoma City OCU 14-12, 14-6 SAC
3
Winner Mid-America Christian MACU 17-10, 13-7 SAC
Oklahoma City OCU
14-12, 14-6 SAC
2
Final
3
Mid-America Christian MACU
17-10, 13-7 SAC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Oklahoma City OCU 25 17 23 25 8 (2)
Mid-America Christian MACU 13 25 25 21 15 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

McKinney Breaks Career Aces Record, Volleyball Wins Homecoming Five-Setter over Stars

OKLAHOMA CITY – In a massive must-win match in its final home game of the regular season, the MACU Volleyball team celebrated its Homecoming with an impressive five-set victory over Oklahoma City inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Friday as junior setter Casady McKinney also became the team's career service aces record holder.
 
SCORE
  • Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 2 (13-25, 25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 15-8)
    • Mid-America Christian (17-10, 13-7 SAC)
    • Oklahoma City (14-12, 14-6 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS MATCH SUMMARY
  • Set One
    • While an Annabeth Fehrle kill gave Mid-America Christian a brief 6-5 lead, a Maddie Edwards side-out kill abruptly stemmed the tide in Oklahoma City's favor as the Stars rattled off a dominant 10-2 run as a Ruby Kelley kill gave OCU the 15-8 advantage.
    • Following three-straight side-out scores, Oklahoma City put the set to rest by rattling of five-unanswered as a Kelley service ace extended the Stars' edge to 21-10.
    • The Evangels managed to knock the deficit back down to single-digits on back-to-back terminations from Miriam Nardi and Natalia Rodriguez, but Oklahoma City scored four of the final five points to wrap-up the 25-13 opening-set win.
  • Set Two
    • An early 5-1 OCU surge allowed the Stars to capture a 7-5 lead before the Evangels attack really got going with Lauryn Walters and Rodriguez notching kills to go with a pair of Stockhammer scores before Alica Obusekova dropped in an ace to put MACU back in-front 9-7.
    • While the Stars managed to score three of the next four to tie the set up, MACU found its stride behind the serve of Casady McKinney as the junior setter scored three aces during an eight-unanswered surge to give the Evangels a commanding 18-10 advantage.
    • Oklahoma City scored six of the next eight to close the gap to 20-16, but a Nardi side-out allowed MACU to finish the set by scoring five of the final six to wrap-up the 25-17 win for the Evangels.
  • Set Three
    • Both teams managed to put together small scoring runs through the first half of the third set. After OCU opened by scoring three of the first four, Mid-America Christian rattled off a 5-1 run to seize the 7-5 advantage. Five in a row scored by the Stars was then countered with a with a 5-2 surge by the Evangels as a pair of Stockhammer kills and two more McKinney aces made it an 11-all contest midway through.
    • Even though OCU did manage to put together one more 3-1 mini-scoring run to briefly grab a 14-12 edge, the Evangels countered with a powerful 9-1 scoring surge as a pair of Madison Lee service aces, a kill apiece from Nardi and Walters to go with three OCU errors set the score in MACU's favor at 21-15.
    • Oklahoma City battled back to make things interesting at the very end as the Stars scored eight of the next 11, including surviving three set points to close the gap to 24-23 before the Evangels finally finished it off on Jones-Stafford and Walters teaming up on a block to finally wrap-up a hard-fought 25-23 win.
  • Set Four
    • The first 13 rallies made it seem like it was going to be another scoring slugfest with the Stars grabbing a slim 7-6 lead, however, a Michela de Stefano kill fired up a dominant 12-3 OCU run with Rylee Steward's termination giving OCU a commanding 19-9 advantage.
    • After back-to-back service errors for both teams, Mid-America Christian showed some strong fight to rally back, going on an 11-4 run as Nardi kill, a Rodriguez and Walters assisted block and another Lee service ace allowed MACU to survive three set points to close it to a 24-21 game.
    • However, the Evangels were unable to keep the immaculate run going as Kelley and Marina Kalajdzic teamed up to block Annabeth Fehrle's attempted finesse kill attempt to finally wrap-up the 25-21 win for the Stars to force a decisive fifth set.
  • Set Five
    • Even though OCU managed to capture three of the first four points, a pair of Nardi terminations following a Stars service ace allowed MACU to swing the momentum back in the Evangels favor grabbed the 8-6 edge heading into the side change on a Steward net violation on Rodriguez's attack attempt.
    • After taking a timeout immediately following the side change, the Stars could do little to slow down MACU's emphatic run to the finish line as the Evangels emphatically ended the match with a 6-1 scoring run before Stockhammer powered a kill down through the Stars block on match point to wrap-up the 15-8 win.
MATCH NOTES
  • Despite coming up with the victory, Oklahoma City was slightly more effective in the attack as the Stars registered 54 kills and 27 errors for a .156 hitting percentage while Mid-America Christian was only able to muster 47 kills to 23 errors for a .135 attack rate.
  • One of the biggest differences in the match came from MACU's effectiveness from the service line as the Evangels were able to register 13 service aces as a team to just six for the Stars.
  • With her six-ace output, junior setter Casady McKinney made MACU history by surpassing Kaylie Walker for the program's NAIA Era (2007-present) career service aces lead with 152 career dimes. McKinney also finished with a double-double behind a team-high 26 assists to go with 14 digs.
  • Despite MACU's offensive struggles, Miriam Nardi and Lena Stockhammer were massive for the Evangels attack with Nardi finishing with 14 kills on a blistering .448 hitting percentage while Stockhammer wrapped up her night with 12 terminations on a solid .225 hitting clip.
  • Along with her setting battery mate, freshman setter Madison Lee also finished with a double-double, shoveling 18 digs to go with 11 aces and three service aces.
  • Ryley Bowden led MACU's back row defensive efforts with 24 digs with five assists and two aces while Natalia Rodriguez was the Evangels' most effective front row blocker with four assisted rejections to go with six kills on a strong .240 in the attack.
  • By getting the victory, Mid-America Christian improved to 7-5 on its home court during the 2024 season while the win was MACU's first five-set victory of the year.
  • The Evangels' victory also allowed MACU to stay in-contention for one of the top four spots in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament by improving to 13-7 in league play, keeping just a half-game back of Wayland Baptist for fourth and now a game back of Oklahoma City for third.
  • The win over the Stars was a crucial one because now the Evangels own the head-to-head tiebreaker over OCU if the two teams finished tied in the conference standings.  MACU has now won six in a row over the Stars as well as seven of the last eight meetings.
UP NEXT
  • Mid-America Christian closes out its regular season on the road next weekend as the Evangels will be in Goodwell, Oklahoma on Friday for a 7 p.m. match against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside Anchor D Arena before wrapping up with a massive match at Wayland Baptist on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. inside the Hutcherson Center.
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