OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Volleyball team went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma City in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal match against Oklahoma City inside the Gaulke Activity Center, but the Evangels dropped the hard-fought five-set affair to the Stars.
 
SCORE

• Oklahoma City 3, Mid-America Christian 2 (16-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 16-14)
  • Mid-America Christian (18-12)
  • Oklahoma City (17-12)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Seyi Atolagbe – 11 Kills, .417 ATK%, 9 Blocks
• Madi Trayler – 10 Kills, .240 ATK%, 5 Digs, 3 Blocks
• Mia Benson – 9 Kills, 6 Aces, 5 Digs
• Alica Obusekova – 15 Kills, 8 Digs
• Casady McKinney – 28 Assists, 15 Digs, 8 Kills, 2 Blocks
• Madison Lee – 19 Assists, 19 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Both teams were even through the first eight rallies as Mid-America Christian jumped out to a 4-1 lead before OCU scored three-unanswered to tie it. After trading the next two rallies, MACU rattled off a 9-4 run capped off on Seyi Atolagbe and Madi Trayler's co-op block on Grace Smallwood's attack to make it 14-9.
  • With MACU leading by four in the 28^th rally, the Evangels blocking came up big, forcing three-straight OCU attack errors to start a 7-2 run capped off on back-to-back kills by Trayler and Mia Benson to make it a commanding 23-14 lead.
  • The Stars scored two of the next three, but a costly service error for Kayle Marshall allowed MACU to secure the 25-16 win.
• Set Two
  • Oklahoma City got off to a strong start behind the serve of Natalie Adams, who tallied a pair of aces to help the Stars jump out to a 7-1 lead.
  • The Evangels battled their way back nearing the midway point, rattling off a 7-2 surge as a Casady McKinney kill off the net violation closed it to 9-8, forcing the Stars to call a timeout.
  • However, OCU bounced back out of the break, scoring five of the next six to stretch its lead back out to 14-9 off a MACU attack error.
  • After trading side-outs, Mid-America Christian found its stride, as back-to-back Alica Obuskeova terminations ignited a 7-1 run as Erin Mack's attack error gave the Evangels a 17-16 lead.
  • Upon trading rallies, Oklahoma City gained some breathing room by rattling off four-straight to make it 22-19.
  • Even though OCU put MACU against the brink at 24-21, the Evangels made it interesting late on consecutive kills from Benson and Obusekova to close it to one, but Grace Smallwood came up with the set point kill to seal the 25-23 win for OCU.
• Set Three
  • MACU opened up the third set with a massive 7-0 run as Benson tallied a pair of service aces and Madi Trayler came up with three kills during the streak.
  • As the set approached the midway point, Oklahoma City scored eight of the next 11 points to close it to a 10-8 game before the Evangels swung back with an 8-2 run featuring three consecutive Benson aces to stretch the lead to 18-10.
  • Oklahoma City chiseled away at the MACU lead, including surviving three-straight set points to close it to 24-23 before Benson slipped a kill through the middle of the Stars defense to come away with their own 25-23 win.
• Set Four
  • The Stars dominated the first half of the fourth set, scoring five of the first six points before eventually building out their lead 15-6 just past the midway point.
  • The Evangels scored three of the next four after getting a kill apiece from Benson, Obusekova, and Trayler, but OCU scored four of the next five to capture its largest lead at 20-10 Smallwood's service ace.
  • The Evangels tried to battle back by scoring four-straight, getting a pair of kills from Marcela Nalin and one for Casady McKinney to make it 20-14 following an OCU attack error, but the two sides finished it out with nine consecutive side-out points for the Stars to claim the 25-18 win.
• Set Five
  • Mid-America Christian started off the fifth set well by scoring four of the first five, the Stars swung back with an 8-3 run to seize a 9-7 lead on Ryan Leland's ace.
  • After the Stars stretched their lead out to 12-9, forcing head coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout, the Evangels stormed back by scoring four consecutive kills from Trayler and McKinney before back-to-back Atolagbe slams gave MACU the 13-12 edge.
  • Unfortunately, MACU was unable to contain the Stars down the stretch by scoring four of the final five points with Kaylie Marshall coming up with the match-point kill to seal the 16-14 extra-point win.

MATCH NOTES

• Despite suffering the loss, Mid-America Christian was slightly better in the attack, scoring 61 kills with 26 errors for a .194 hitting percentage while Oklahoma City finished with 54 kills and 21 errors for a .189 attack rate.
• Alica Obusekova finished with a team-high 15 kills, but struggled in the attack with 10 miscues while coming up with eight digs on the defensive end.
• Seyi Atolagbe was a stellar offensive and defensive prescence for MACU in the middle, powering down 11 kills on a .417 hitting percentage to go with a career-high nine blocks with three solos and six assisted rejections.
• After leading the MACU attack on Saturday, Madi Trayler once again put together a solid showing in the attack with 10 kills on a .240 rate to go with five digs and three blocks while Mia Benson hit nine kills on a .389 hitting clip.
• Casady McKinney narrowly missed coming up with her second career triple-double, dishing out a team-high 28 assists to go with 15 digs and posted eight kills in the attack.
• MACU's other setter Madison Lee led the team defensively, shoveling 19 digs to go with 19 assists.
• Due to suffering the loss, Oklahoma City won two out of the three meetings against MACU this season with two of those defeats coming in a three-day stretch.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for the NCCAA Central Region Championships next week at Sterling. Pairings for the tourney will be announced later in the week.