BARTLESVILLE, Okla. –The MACU volleyball team split opened its 2024 campaign with a split decision at the OKWU Tri-Match on Tuesday as the Evangels defeated Mission 3-1 before being swept by No. 13 Oklahoma Wesleyan 3-0 at the Mueller Sports Complex.

MATCH ONE / Mid-America Christian vs. Mission (Mo.)
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Mission 1 (25-13, 25-15, 22-25, 25-13)
  • Mid-America Christian (1-0)
  • Mission (0-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Annabeth Fehrle – 10 Kills, .562 ATK%, 4 Aces
• Miriam Nardi – 10 Kills, .308 ATK%
• Casady McKinney – 23 Assists
• Alica Obusekova 10 kills, .321 ATK%, 10 digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • The match began with a near point-for-point exchange, but starting with the 18^th rally, as the Evangels went on a 7-1 run to capture a 16-9 advantage on a termination from Sarah Jones-Stafford.
  • MACU and Mission traded the next seven points before Mid-America Christian closed out the set by scoring the final six points with Annabeth Fehrle tallying a pair of aces in the final three to secure the 25-13 win.
• Set Two
  • The momentum for the Evangels carried on to set two, opening it up by scoring seven of the first eight, featuring five kills with two coming from Stafford as well as an an ace from Sydney Martin.
  • Down 14-5, Mission utilized a timeout that sparked a 4-1 run to cut the Evangels lead to six. However, MACU defensively buckled down the rest of the way as a 6-1 surge by the Evangels stemmed the tide to pull away with the 25-15 victory.
• Set Three
  • It was a back-and-forth battle through the first 19 rallies as the Patriots held a one-point lead before a trio of kills from Miriam Nardi, Stafford and Alica Obusekova highlighted a four-point run that gave MACU the 13-10 advantage at the midway point.
  • A MU side-out kill from Summer Kenney on the ensuing rally completely shifted the momentum to Mission's favor as a 10-3 Patriots surge put the Evangels into a 20-16 hole.
  • Mission extended its advantage to five at game-point before the Evangels put together one last push, tallying three-straight behind a MU service error, an Obusekova termination and a Martin ace to make it a 24-22 contest.
  • However, MACU's comeback came up just short as Kenney's set-point kill wrapped up the 25-22 win for the Patriots.
• Set Four
  • The Evangels used their rotation to perfection with five different players coming up with five kills through the first 12 rallies to put MACU in-front 8-4, forcing the Patriots to call a timeout.
  • A Mission side-out following the break was not enough to cool down MACU's attack as the Evangels scored nine of the next 11, tallying four kills in the run before Lena Stockhammer and Fehrle combined on a block to set the score to 17-7 before the Patriots exhausted their final timeout.
  • MU managed to close it back to a six-point game on back-to-back Ella Sims service aces to make it 18-12, but the Evangels closed out the set strong by taking six of the final seven rallies as Fehrle dropped an ace down the right sideline to wrap-up the 25-13 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Overall, the Mid-America Christian attack was simply phenomenal as the Evangels registered 46 kills on a .307 attack percentage while the defense held the Patriots to just 33 kills on a .024 hitting clip, including hitting into the negatives during the first and second set.
• A key to the Evangels success defensively was the blocking scheme as MACU registered seven total blocks, spearheaded by Stafford tallying four assisted blocks.
• On the whole, the MACU attack was balanced across the board with three Evangels reaching double-digit kills with Fehrle finishing with 10 kills on a .563 attack percentage, Nardi notching 10 on a .308 clip, and Obusekova obtaining 10 terminations on a .321 attack rate. Stafford was also strong in the attack as well, slamming seven kills on a proficient .438 hitting clip.
• Casady McKinney led the distribution efforts with 23 assists while Stockhammer dished out 12 in her own right.
• MACU's back-row defense was solid across the board with three turning in double-digit digs. Martin managed a team-high 14 shovels while Ryley Bowden raked in 13 and Obusekova wrapped up a double-double with 10.
• The victory for MACU made it its 10^th-straight over the Patriots since 2004.

MATCH TWO / Mid-America Christian vs. No. 13 Oklahoma Wesleyan

• SCORE
  • Oklahoma Wesleyan 3, Mid-America Christian 0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-11)
    • Mid-America Christian (1-1)
    • Oklahoma Wesleyan (6-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Alica Obusekova – 5 Kills, 9 Digs
• Annabeth Fehrle – 4 Kills, .364 ATK%
• Ryley Bowden – 15 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • The Evangels jumped out to the early 7-4 advantage by notching four kills, two of which coming from Fehrle while Martin and Bowden each came away with an ace during the run.
  • Four-unanswered Eagles points briefly put OKWU into the lead, but Mid-America Christian countered by scoring on eight of the next 12 rallies as Obusekova's kill on the net violation made it a 15-12 MACU advantage.
  • Following an Oklahoma Wesleyan timeout, the Eagles put together a 9-3 run of their own to capture their own three-point advantage on a Maddy McKinney kill to make it 21-18.
  • It looked as though MACU might steal the opening set after Martin's ace concluded a 5-1 Evangels surge to put the visitors back in-front 23-22. However, following their final timeout, OKWU concluded the set by scoring the final three points on back-to-back Reece Paris terminations to wrap-up the 25-23 final.
• Set Two
  • Oklahoma Wesleyan opened the second set by scoring six of the first seven points before putting together another six-unanswered run toward the midway point to make it a 13-4 contest.
  • The Evangels eventually chiseled the lead down to 16-9 following a Lauryn Walters kill and a co-op block by Nardi and Stafford. However, OKWU swung back by scoring four-straight to capture a 20-9 advantage on an Evelyn Rohrberg termination.
  • MACU took advantage of a pair of OKWU attack errors and two service errors to score five of the next seven to put it at 22-14, but the Eagles scored three of the next four to close out the 25-15 win.
• Set Three
  • A kill and an assisted block for Stafford with Obusekova helped MACU grab an early 3-2 edge in the final set, but OKWU found its groove following an Evangels attack error as the Eagles rattled off eight in a row to capture a 10-3 lead on Rohrberg's termination.
  • Mid-America Christian struggled to slow down the Eagles during the midway portion as another 10-2 Oklahoma Wesleyan run allowed the home squad to extend its edge to 20-6 on a Tijana Stojilikovic kill.
  • The Evangels tried to keep alive as kills apiece from Kaylee Harrison and Natalia Rodriguez to go with a Fehrle ace closed it to 11, but the Eagles scored five of the final seven to wrap-up the 25-11 score for the set.

MATCH NOTES

• Facing one of the hottest teams in the NAIA, Mid-America Christian struggled to slow down Oklahoma Wesleyan as the Eagles scored 48 kills on a .264 attack percentage while the Eagles struggled to find an offensive rhythm, registering just 21 kills on a .065 hitting rate.
• Despite MACU's struggles, Bowden provided a bright spot in MACU's back row with 15 digs, averaging five per set while Fehrle was the only effective attacker in the front row with four kills on a .364 attack clip.
• The Evangels were unable to snap OKWU's winning streak in the series as the Eagles secured their sixth-straight since the 2022 season.

UP NEXT

• For the second-straight year, Mid-America Christian will be competing in the College of the Ozarks Classic hosted in Point Lookout, Missouri this weekend. The Evangels will open the classic on Friday with matches against Stephens (Mo.) at 10 a.m. and Evangel (Mo.) at 5 p.m. before facing off in a rematch against Mission at 10 a.m. on Saturday before wrapping it up against Avila (Mo.) at 2 p.m.