OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Volleyball team put together a stellar offensive and defensive performance inside Abe Lemons Arena as the Evangels handed Oklahoma City its first home loss of the regular season with the straight-set victory on Friday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-22)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-6, 5-3 SAC)
  • Oklahoma City (6-8, 6-2 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Lena Stockhammer – 10 Kills, .333 ATK%, 2 Digs
• Miriam Nardi – 10 Kills, .259 ATK%, 8 Digs
• Alica Obusekova – 10 Kills, .250 ATK%, 12 Digs
• Casady McKinney – 29 Assists, 11 Digs,
• Ryley Bowden – 21 Digs, 6 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian built the early momentum by scoring the first four points before Oklahoma City clawed it back to a one-point set on Grace Smallwood's kill off the MACU block brought it to 9-8.
  • Following Sarah Jones-Stafford's side-out slam off an OCU back row defender, MACU found its stride as the Evangels strung together a 10-3 run to take a commanding 19-11 lead off back-to-back terminations from Miriam Nardi and Annabeth Fehrle.
  • With MACU holding an eight-point advantage, the Stars tried to make it interesting near the end as OCU went on a 6-2 surge, surviving a pair of set points with back-to-back blocks. However, the Evangels were finally able to end it by tapping a left-side swing over the Stars block for a kill to wrap-up the 25-20 set win.
• Set Two
  • While MACU was able to capture an early 5-1 advantage, the Stars quickly found their stride by scoring eight of the next 11 to take the 9-8 lead from the Evangels on back-to-back Evangels attack errors.
  • Mid-America Christian got back on-track in a big way as Stockhammer's heavy right-handed swing powered through the OCU block for a kill, jumpstarting a 10-2 MACU streak that was capped off on consecutive Stars attack errors to make it 20-12.
  • Once again, the Stars didn't go down without a fight as OCU scored 11 of the next 15, including surviving three set points to close it to 24-23. However, the Evangels were finally able to stop the run when Stockhammer hammered a left-side swing off the top of the OCU block for the set-winning kill.
• Set Three
  • The first half of the final set was a slugfest that saw six lead changes, but Oklahoma City threatened to pull away through the midway point as OCU rattled six points in seven rallies to grab the 16-12 lead.
  • On the ensuing rally, a Nardi side-out termination ignited the Evangels attack as Nardi along with Alica Obusekova combined for five kills over six-straight points as MACU's 8-1 run gave the Evangels a 20-17 edge.
  • The Stars made it interesting on a pair of occasions, which included surviving two more match points to make it 24-22, but OCU made a crucial mistake when Ruby Kelley's quick bump return on MACU's pass over went into the net, which wrapped up the 25-22 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the match with 44 kills on a .226 attack percentage while MACU's defense held Oklahoma City to only 35 kills on a .124 hitting clip, marking OCU's lowest attack percentage in a SAC match this season.
• Impressively, the Evangels had a balanced attack that featured three players in double-digit kills during the three-set affair. Lena Stockhammer was the most effective of MACU's 10-kill specialists with a .333 attack percentage while Miriam Nardi notched her double-digits on a .259 hitting rate with eight digs. Alica Obusekova rounded out MACU's 10-kill trio with a double-double effort as she finished with 12 digs to go with a .250 attack clip.
• Casady McKinney led MACU's distribution efforts with 29 assists to go with 11 digs for her double-double while Ryley Bowden put together a stellar back row effort with 21 digs on a 7.0 per set rate.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian has stunningly swept the powerhouse Stars program in their home gym in back-to-back seasons while extending its win streak to five-straight over OCU.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will stay close to home on Saturday as the Evangels will slide over to Bethany for a 1 p.m. match against Southwestern Christian inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.