OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite dropping the second set to Carolina in its second match of pool play at the NCCAA National Championships, the MACU Volleyball team was able to handle its business in the other three sets as the Evangels cruised to a 3-1 win inside Keeter Gymnasium on Thursday morning.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Carolina 1 (25-12, 19-25, 25-17, 25-12)
  • Mid-America Christian (21-13)
  • Carolina (18-12)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Annabeth Fehrle – 12 Kills, .455 ATK%, 6 Digs
• Miriam Nardi – 11 Kills, .391 ATK%, 4 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Alica Obusekova – 6 Kills, .375 ATK%, 12 Digs, 3 Blocks
• Sarah Jones-Stafford – 7 Kills, .500 ATK%, 4 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 18 Assists, 13 Digs, 2 Aces
• Sydney Martin – 6 Aces, 2 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Set
  • Mid-America Christian got off to an electric start as the Evangels scored the first six points behind three Miriam Nardi kills, a pair of Sydney Martin service aces and an assisted block by Sarah Jones-Stafford and Alica Obusekova.
  • After Carolina finally scored its first point on a Syvanna Poole kill, the Evangels quickly swung back by scoring four of the next five as an Annabeth Fehrle finish extended the MACU lead to 10-2.
  • The Evangels maintained an eight-point advantage before finishing the set strong, scoring nine of the final 13 points as Obusekova dropped in a set point service ace to seal the 25-12 victory.
• Set Two
  • The first 29 rallies of the second set was a downright battle as the run saw four lead changes and 12 ties as Lauryn Walters gave MACU its last lead of the set with a kill to make it 15-14.
  • The Bruins took control of the set following an Obusekova service as CU scored five unanswered to seize a 19-15 advantage.
  • A CU service error and a Fehrle termination allowed the Evangels to cut the deficit in-half at 19-17, but Carolina closed out the set by scoring six of the last eight points to tie the match up with the 25-19 win.
• Set Three
  • The third set had a similar start to the second as it was a hard-fought battle through the first 24 rallies as there were eight ties and two lead changes as Carolina overcame a two-point deficit with a four-point run to grab the 13-11 lead.
  • An Obusekova side-out slam jumpstarted a dominant 9-1 run as the Evangels defense forced four-straight Bruins attack errors to stretch their advantage to 20-14.
  • After trading the next three points, Mid-America Christian closed out the set by scoring four of the next five as Madison Lee ended by bumping over a kill into the middle of the Bruins defense to wrap-up the 25-17 win.
• Set Four
  • Mid-America Christian got off to a stellar start to the fourth by scoring five of the first six with Martin tallying two more aces, however, the Bruins managed to claw it back to a one-point game on a Nardi attack error to make it 6-5.
  • An emphatic Natalia Rodriguez side-out termination allowed the Evangels to fire off a seven-unanswered surge capped off on another Fehrle finish to stretch it to 13-5. However, after trading the next two points, Carolina surged back by scoring four in a row to cut the MACU advantage in-half at 14-10.
  • The Evangels wouldn't let the Bruins cut into their lead any further as MACU closed out the match with a dominant 11-2 run as back-to-back Nardi attack errors brought it to match point before CU committed a double-contact violation on the final point to secure the 25-12 win.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together one of its best performances of the season in the attack, hitting for its sixth-highest hitting percentage of the season with 47 kills on a .286 rate while limiting Carolina to 40 kills and 24 attack errors for a .130 hitting clip.
• On-top of MACU's stout defensive efforts, the production from the service line proved to be one of the big deciding factors in the match as the Evangels recorded their second-most aces of the season with 13 while holding Carolina to only three aces. Junior defensive specialist Sydney Martin was a big reason for the service disparity as she finished with a career-high six aces in the match.
• With her six ace effort, Martin reached a new milestone as she became just the third Evangel in the NAIA Era (2007-present) to reach 150 career aces as she now sits just one back of Kaylee Walker (151, 2018-21) for second in the MACU record book.
• Of MACU's attack, its top four hitters in the match were incredibly productive with each hitting for .375 attack percentage or better. Annabeth Fehrle led the charge with 12 kills on a .455 percentage while Miriam Nardi also reached double-digits with 11 kills on a .391 clip. Sarah Jones-Stafford was massive at the net with seven kills on a .500 hitting percentage to go with four blocks while Alica Obusekova chimed in six kills on a .375 rate.
• Casady McKinney led the MACU setting efforts with a double-double effort of 18 assists and a team-high 13 digs as well to go with a pair of aces while Madison Lee chipped in 13 assists and seven digs to go with a trio of aces.
• By getting the victory, MACU improved to 2-0 all-time against Carolina after previously defeating the Bruins at the 2019 NCCAA National Championships 3-0 on Dec. 6.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back in-action this afternoon as the Evangels close out pool play against top-seeded Carolina International (S.C.) for a 1:30 p.m. first serve.