OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite a season-high 14-kill performance from Lauryn Walters, the MACU Volleyball team was unable to slow down last year's Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Champion Texas Wesleyan as the Evangels fell in four sets to the Lady Rams.
 
SCORE

• Texas Wesleyan 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-14)
  • Mid-America Christian (4-4, 0-2 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (6-4, 2-0 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS 

• Lauryn Walters – 14 Kills, .355 ATK%
• Miriam Nardi – 11 Kills, 2 Digs
• Casady McKinney - 24 Assists, 7 Digs, 2 Aces
• Alica Obusekova - 28 Digs, 4 Kills

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One 
  • It was a slower start for the Evangels, giving up the first four points before Miriam Nardi got MACU on the board to break the Rams run.
  • Once Mid-America controlled serve, it found a run of its own quickly leveling the score at 6-6 off a Natalia Rodriguez termination.
  • Late in the set, the Evangels tallied two separate scoring runs of three-straight points and started to pull away from the Lady Rams with a 20-17 lead, prompting a Rams timeout. The timeout would prove useful for Texas Wesleyan as the Rams rallied back to trail by just two on set-point, but Lauryn Walters put the set away for the Evangels with her team-high sixth kill for the 25-22 victory.
• Set Two
  • The first half of the opening set was a back-and-forth battle that featured eight ties and two lead changes as MACU as a pair of Lady Rams miscues allowed MACU to capture a 16-14 advantage.
  • Walters notched her 10^th kill of the match which stopped a run of three kills from the Rams. Walters' kill preserved a 18-17 lead for the Evangels.
  • Mid-America Christian had its chances late as back-to-back kills by Alica Obusekova and Casady McKinney gave MACU the 22-21 advantage, but the Lady Rams scored the final four points to draw the match even with the 25-22 set win.
• Set Three
  • The evenly matched teams struggled to find separation again in the third set as the score climbed to 11-10 in favor of the Rams. A string of service errors from both sides prompted a MACU timeout.
  • Texas Wesleyan came out hot after the timeout – scoring six of the next eightg points – as the Rams jumped to an 18-14 lead.
  • The Evangels slowly worked their way back, surviving a pair of set points to close to 24-22 off a pair of TXWES miscues, but Sydney Alexander was finally able to find the winning kill to wrap-up the second consecutive 25-22 result.
• Set Four
  • Texas Wesleyan opened up the fourth set on a 10-3 run, prompting a timeout from the Evangels.
  • The Rams poured it on after the timeout from Mid-America – scoring nine of the next fifteen points – to establish a 19-9 lead.
  • Mid-America Christian rallied four consecutive points, but Texas Wesleyan responded with a six-point run to end the match, 25-14.

MATCH NOTES 

• Texas Wesleyan held a slight edge in the attack, notching 51 kills on a .168 attack percentage while MACU came away with 45 kills on a .156 rate.
• Lauryn Walters led the MACU attack with 14 kills on a .364 attack percentage while Miriam Nardi closed out her solid weekend with 11 terminations on a .226 hitting rate.
• Evangel junior Alica Obusekova ended the match with a team-high and career-high 28 digs with 21 of them coming through the first two sets.
• Cassidy McKinney led the MACU distribution efforts with 24 assists to go with seven digs while Madison Lee narrowly missed her second career double-double with 15 assists and nine shovels.
• Ryley Bowden had another big day in the back row with 24 digs with a pair of aces.
• Mid-America will remain in the hunt for their first SAC win of the new season, while Texas Wesleyan improves to 2-0 in SAC play.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back in action at home on Wednesday, September 11 at 6 pm to take on Sterling (Kan.) in non-conference play.