LANGSTON, Okla. – Facing a Langston squad that has been somewhat tough to beat on its home court, the MACU Volleyball team was able to get a crucial road win inside C.F. Gayles Field House by pulling out a huge 3-1 victory to sweep the season series from the Lady Lions.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Langston 1 (25-19, 25-10, 18-25, 25-18)
  • Mid-America Christian (12-10, 8-7 SAC)
  • Langston (9-14, 5-9 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Alica Obusekova – 18 Kills, .438 ATK%, 7 Digs, 3 Aces
• Seyi Atolagbe – 12 Kills, .524 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Marcela Nalin – 12 Kills, .385 ATK%
• Madison Lee – 29 Assists, 4 Digs, 2 Aces
• Ryley Bowden – 19 Digs, 5 Aces, 4 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Both teams struggled in the attack in the first half as Langston took advantage of a pair of back-to-back MACU attack errors and two Teia Woodson kills to seize a 12-9 lead midway through the first set.
  • Starting in the 28^th rally, Mid-America Christian went on a massive run as an Alica Obusekova side-out kill and service ace jumpstarted a 7-1 Evangels run featuring a pair of Seyi Atlolagbe kills and a Madi Trayler termination to grab back a 19-16 lead.
  • After three-straight side-out points, the Evangels closed out the set with a 5-1 run capped off on an Obusekova kill to capture the 25-19 victory.
• Set Two
  • The Lady Lions appeared to start the second set strong by scoring the first three points, but the Evangels swung back with avengeance, rattling off a powerful 10-2 run finished off on back-to-back Langston attack errors and giving MACU a commanding 10-5 lead.
  • A Woodson kill could not stop the MACU streak as the Evangels took advantage of some strong serving as three service aces, two from Casady McKinney and one from Ryley Bowden spearheaded a 7-2 run as Obusekova's kill brought it to 17-8.
  • Following a MACU service error, the Lady Lions couldn't contain MACU's stellar finish as the Evangels scored on eight of the final nine rallies, all of which coming on MACU kills or service aces as Atolagbe powered down the set-point kill to seal the dominant 25-10 win.
• Set Three
  • Langston took advantage of some early MACU attack errors and three consecutive miscues in serve receive during a 7-1 run to seize a 14-8 lead on a co-op block by Woodson and Mikayla Eagle.
  • The Evangels scored three of the next four to cut into the Lady Lions lead, but Langston swung back with three in a row as Atolagbe's attack error gave Langston its largest lead at 20-12.
  • Back-to-back Obusekova terminations following a Langston service error allowed MACU to claw it back to 20-15, but some costly service errors down the final stretch allowed Langston close out by scoring five of the final eight to seal the 25-18 win.
  • MACU struggled in the attack during third set, recording only nine kills and seven errors for a .053 hitting percentage while Langston bashed 11 kills and only four errors for a .206 attack rate.
• Set Four
  • Mid-America Christian came out on-fire to start the fourth set. While an Eagle ace allowed LU to close it to 5-4, the Evangels swung back with five in a row on four kills, two of which from Madi Trayler and one each for Atolagbe and Karlee Siegfried to go with an Obusekova ace to seize a 10-4 lead and force a Langston timeout. Obusekova got another kill out of the timeout to cap the run at six in a row before Moore finally got the side-out termination to make it 11-5.
  • The Evangels built their lead out to 14-7 before Langston surged back with five-unanswered with Woodson powering a kill through the MACU block to close it to 14-12, forcing MACU head coach Holly McKamie to take a timeout.
  • After four-straight side-outs, the Evangels managed to score two in a row on kills from Obusekova and Atolagbe, but the Lady Lions scored three in a row to close the gap to its closest at 18-17.
  • Following a perfectly executed Atolagbe side-out tap kill, Bowden went on an absolute tear from the service line, scoring four aces during the 7-1 close out as Trayler tallied the match-point kill to seal the 25-18 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian dominated in the attack, scoring 57 kills to 23 errors for a .248 hitting percentage while Langston could only muster 34 kills with 16 mis-hits for a .158 attack rate.
• The service line played a massive role in the result as the Evangels finished with a season-high 14 aces to only eight errors while Langston notched just one ace to six missed serves, resulting in a commanding 20-9 advantage for MACU in service scoring.
• While the Evangels hit for a .248 clip as a team, the trio of Alica Obusekova, Seyi Atolagbe, and Marcela Nalin were simply outstanding, combining for 42 kills on a blistering .443 hitting percentage. Obuskeova led the charge with 18 kills on a .438 rate while Atolagbe turned in 12 on a .524 clip and Nalin posted a dozen as well while hitting at a .385 percentage.
• Madison Lee led the 6-2 setter rotation distribution with 29 assists to go with four digs and two aces while Casady McKinney dished out 19 assists to go with four shovels and a pair of aces as well.
• Ryley Bowden was outstanding for MACU in both the back row and the service line, shoveling a match-high 19 digs to go with five service aces to go with four assists. Sydney Martin was the only other Evangel that turned in double-digit digs with 13 as Langston could only muster 114 total attacks on the evening.
• By getting the victory, MACU swept the season series against Langston after the Evangels defeated the Lady Lions by a 25-17, 25-18, 25-12 result inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Sept. 6. While the Evangels have now won 17-straight against LU since 2016, Langston is dramatically improved from seasons' past as Langston did win their first set against MACU since Oct. 16, 2018.
• The win was an important one for the Evangels as they now sit in a tie with College of the Ozarks (Mo.) for fifth in the league standings, just 1.5 games back of Oklahoma Panhandle State and Wayland Baptist (Texas), who are tied for third.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will have a few days off before it makes the trip up to McPherson, Kan. on Saturday to take on Central Christian. The match location and time has been moved as it will now take place at 4:30 p.m. inside Holman Fieldhouse on the campus of McPherson College.