PLAINVIEW, TEXAS – The MACU Volleyball team was unable to finish off the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference competition on a high note as the Evangels fell 3-1 to the Pioneers inside the Hutcherson Center on Saturday afternoon.
SCORE
- Wayland Baptist 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (26-24, 25-17, 24-26, 25-20)
- Mid-America Christian (10-8, 6-5 SAC)
- Wayland Baptist (8-7, 7-4 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- Mid-America Christian utilized an early 4-0 run to grab the early advantage before eventually stretching its lead out to 12-7 midway through the set on Casady McKinney and Seyi Atolagbe's co-op block.
- After four-straight side-out points, Wayland Baptist went on a massive 7-0 streak to take a 16-14 advantage on Karlee Heidebrecht's kill.
- The Evangels responded well after WBU gained the two-point edge as MACU rattled off four in a row with Mia Benson and Alica Obusekova teaming up on a block to give MACU the 18-16 and force the Pioneers to call their first timeout.
- While Madi Trayler and Benson teamed up to expand the MACU lead to 19-16, the Pioneers closed out the first set by outscoring the Evangels 10-5, including scoring the last two points on a Deniz Yileri kill and service ace to wrap-up a tough 26-24 extra-point defeat.
- Set Two
- The Evangels opened the set well by winning seven of the first 12 points, making it 7-5 on Siegfried's kill, but Wayland Baptist went a massive 8-1 run to take a 13-8 advantage on Yileri's ace at the midway point.
- MACU tried to rally back with a 4-1 run on back-to-back assisted blocks by Benson and Obusekova to make it 15-13, but the Pioneers once again swung back with three in a row to stretch the lead back to five at 18-13 on Yileri's termination.
- Unfortunately, MACU was unable to string together another run as Wayland Baptist closed out the set with a 5-1 run to wrap-up a 25-18 result.
- Set Three
- Mid-America Christian scored the first three points before building its lead out to 12-6 midway through on back-to-back kills by Atolagbe and Trayler.
- The Pioneers countered with a strong 8-2 run to tie the set up at 14-all on a MACU attack error, forcing head coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout.
- Wayland Baptist pushed MACU to the brink, at one point bringing it to match point at 24-22 on a Fade Ogunbade kill before the Evangels found their fire. A Benson termination jumpstarted a 4-0 MACU surge Siegfried tied it up with a kill and back-to-back Atolagbe kills allowed the Evangels to survive with the 26- 24 win.
- Set Four
- It was close through the first five rallies, but the Pioneers went on a commanding 12-4 surge as Emma Scoott and Carlee Heidebrecht's block on Siegfried's swing gave the Pioneers the 15-6 advantage.
- Mid-America Christian utilized a three-point run to jumpstart an 8-2 run of its own as three-straight Pioneers attack errors allowed MACU to close it to 17-14 and force WBU to call a timeout.
- Wayland Baptist responded well following the timeout, scoring the next three to double up its lead to 20-14 and forcing the Evangels to call their own.
- Unfortunately, the break did not benefit the Evangels as the Pioneers three consecutive points out of it to stretch their edge to 23-14.
- A Marcela Nalin kill finally snapped WBU's six-point run to jumpstart a four-point MACU run, closing it to 23-18 and bring out a Wayland timeout.
- The Evangels scored two more out of the timeout on back-to-back terminations from Siegfried and Nalin to make it 23-20, but the Pioneers scored the final two points to thwart MACU's comeback efforts in a 25-20 defeat.
MATCH NOTES
- Mid-America Christian struggled to slow down the Wayland Baptist attack as the Pioneers rattled off 64 kills, averaging 16.0 kills per set on a .207 hitting percentage while the Evangels totaled 54 kills on .170 attack rate.
- Despite giving up a lot of kills, the Evangels blocking scheme still managed to notch 12.5 blocks for the match, marking the most MACU has totaled in a match since rejecting 17 in a five-set win at John Brown on Oct. 8, 2021. It is the most the Evangels recorded in a four-setter during that same 2021 season when MACU blocked 12 in a home win over the Golden Eagles on Sept. 1, 2021.
- Mia Benson was a big reason for the blocking success as she recorded a career-high 11 assisted blocks, ranking as the seventh-most in a single match since the program joined the NAIA in 2007.
- Once again, Alica Obusekova led the MACU attack with 14 kills, but managed to only muster a .141 hitting percentage against a Pioneers back line that was shoveling almost everything. Obusekova recorded a career-high 64 attack attempts, tying Emily Moore (2008) for the second-most swings in a four-set match in the NAIA Era (2007-present). Obusekova was also a stellar defensive presence for MACU, as she notched a double-double with 12 digs and tied a career-high six assisted blocks to go with a pair of service aces for 19 total points.
- Karlee Siegfried was the only other Evangel to finish in double-digit kills with 12.
- After struggling the last few matches in the attack, freshman middle blocker Seyi Atolagbe managed to find her swing again, putting down nine kills on a blistering .500 hitting percentage while Madi Trayler also continued to swing a hot hand with nine terminations on a solid .250 rate.
- Casady McKinney led the distribution efforts in the 6-2 setter rotation with 27 assists and 11 digs while Madison Lee also notched a double-double with 16 assists and 14 shovels.
- Ryley Bowden led MACU's back row efforts with 23 digs, averaging 5.75 digs per set to go with seven assists.
- Mid-America Christian wrapped up a very tough first half of SAC play where the Evangels had to play on the road for seven of the 11 matches. MACU will have a more fortuitous second half with seven of the 11 matches being at the Gaulke Activity Center.
MATCH NOTES
The Evangels will face the two top teams in the SAC at home next weekend as the Evangels return to the Gaulke Activity Center for a 6 p.m. first serve on Friday against Texas Wesleyan.
