POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Senior right-side hitter Miriam Nardi registered a career-high 22 kills to lead the MACU Volleyball team to a huge Sooner Athletic Conference road win as the Evangels came away with a 3-1 victory over College of the Ozarks inside Keeter Gymnasium on Saturday.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, College of the Ozarks 1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 25-10)
  • Mid-America Christian (7-6, 3-3 SAC)
  • College of the Ozarks (6-6, 2-5 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Miriam Nardi – 22 Kills, .356 ATK%, 4 Digs, 3 Blocks
• Annabeth Fehrle – 10 Kills, .304 ATK%, 4 Digs
• Casady McKinney – 31 Assists, 12 Digs, 3 Aces
• Ryley Bowden – 19 Digs, 5 Assists
• Sarah Jones-Stafford – 7 Kills, .319 ATK%, 7 Blocks

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • It was a close battle through the first half of the set, but after an assisted block by Miriam Nardi and Sarah Jones-Stafford tied it up, College of the Ozarks went on a 5-1 run to take a 15-11 lead, prompting MACU head coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout.
  • The Evangels responded well out of the break as MACU rattled off seven-straight points to grab a 17-15 advantage.
  • After the Bobcats tied at 19-all on a Grace Hancock kill off the top of the block, Mid-America Christian regained the advantage after Lena Stockhammer tooled a kill off the block to start a three-point MACU run to force the Bobcats to call a timeout.
  • College of the Ozarks was unable to make much of a dent in the MACU lead as Stockhammer slapped a right side kill to the back row on set point to give MACU the 25-22 win.
• Set Two
  • After splitting the first six rallies, Mid-America Christian managed to slowly build a lead heading into the midway point as Nardi put down a cut shot toward the middle of the Bobcats defense to give MACU the 11-7 advantage.
  • College of the Ozarks battled back to take a lead following a five-point run, but after going blow-for-blow over a six-rally run, Annabeth Fehrle went cross court for a kill that ignited a 5-0 MACU run as a rough receive on Casady McKinney's serve extended the Evangels lead to 22-18, forcing COFO to call its final timeout.
  • With the score sitting at 23-21, College of the Ozarks caught fire at the end as the Bobcats scored five of the final six points seal a 26-24 extra-point win on Bri Linehan's set point kill.
• Set Three
  • After MACU scored the first two points, College of the Ozarks went on a strong burst off of great serving to start a 4-0 run to grab the 8-4 advantage, forcing another Evangels timeout.
  • Following the break, MACU fought its way back by scoring six of the next seven to grab a 10-9 lead off a Abby Chadwell attack miscue.
  • After going back-and-forth over the next few rallies, Mid-America Christian strung together another 7-1 run with Sydney Martin getting a service ace to fall to make it an 18-13 score.
  • The Bobcats battled back to close it to a one-point score following a four-point swing, but MACU quickly got the momentum back following Nardi's side-out score to start a five-point run of its own to seize the 23-17 advantage.
  • COFO tried to make one last push to come back by scoring four of the next five, but a Chadwell attack error sealed the 25-21 set win for the Evangels.
• Set Four
  • After conceding the opening point, Mid-America Christian put together a downright dominant run, outscoring the Bobcats 12-1 over the next 13 rallies to take a commanding 12-2 lead heading into the midway point on Miriam Nardi's powerful kill to force a COFO timeout.
  • The Bobcats could do little to slow the Evangels down out of the timeout as MACU scored seven of the next nine to extend its advantage to 19-4 on another Fehrle kill.
  • COFO was unable to make a dent in MACU's commanding lead as a Jones-Stafford kill off the top of the Bobcats' block wrapped up the 25-10 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was solid in the attack, notching 57 kills on a .236 attack percentage while MACU's stellar defensive outing held College of the Ozarks to 49 kills on a .108 attack percentage off of 30 attack errors.
• The Evangels blocking efforts were outstanding the match as MACU recorded seven total team blocks while Sarah Jones-Stafford helped lead the scheme with seven assisted blocks to go with a solid seven kills on a .319 attack percentage.
• The match for Nardi was the best of her Evangels career as her 22 terminations eclipsed her previous career-high of 20 notched against Science & Arts on October 3, 2023. Overall, Nardi finished the match with a very strong .356 attack percentage to go with four digs and three blocks on the defensive end.
• Casady McKinney recorded her second-straight double-double as she dished out a season-high 31 assists to go with 12 digs to go with a team-high three service aces from the line.
• Ryley Bowden led four Evangels with double-digit digs with 19 shovels while passing over five assists.
• By getting the win, Mid-America Christian picked up its first win over College of the Ozarks since the Bobcats joined the league this year and avenged a three-set non-conference loss inside Keeter Gymnasium on Sept. 2, 2023. MACU improved to 4-1 all-time against the Bobcats.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return home for a midweek match on Wednesday as the Evangels will host their rival Science & Arts for a 7 p.m. first serve.