BETHANY, Okla. – Seyi Atolagbe powered down a match-high 18 kills while Casady McKinney recorded the first triple-double for a MACU Volleyball player in the NAIA Era (2007-present) as the Evangels cruised to a three-set sweep over Southwestern Christian inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium on Friday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Southwestern Christian 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-19)
  • Mid-America Christian (18-10, 14-7 SAC)
  • Southwestern Christian (2-24, 1-20 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Seyi Atolagbe – 18 Kills, .696 ATK%
• Casady McKinney – 16 Assists, 10 Kills, .304 ATK%, 10 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Madi Trayler – 7 Kills, .429 ATK%
• Madison Lee – 22 Assists, 8 Digs, 3 Aces
• Ryley Bowden – 15 Digs, 7 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • It was relatively even between both sides through the first 23 rallies as nether team managed to seize larger than a two-point lead before Alica Obusekova tooled a side-out kill off the block before Madison Lee dropped in a service ace to give MACU a 14-11 lead midway through.
  • After three-straight side outs, Mid-America Christian gained some more breathing room when Seyi Atolagbe powered down a kill before Mia Benson and Casady McKinney teamed up for a block as McKinney powered a right side kill toward the back-left corner to stretch the Evangels' edge to 18-13.
  • The Eagles eventually battled back to close it to a 20-18 game on Megan Graham's service ace, but the Evangels finished strong by scoring five of the final six points to come away with the 25-19 win.
• Set Two
  • The MACU attack downright blitzed the Eagles defense to start the second set as the Evangels scored seven kills through the first 11 rallies, including three McKinney terminations before Atolagbe powered down a kill up the middle to make it a 9-2 MACU advantage.
  • Southwestern Christian scored six of the next eight to close the gap to 11-8 before the Evangels surged back with eight-unanswered on a pair of Madi Trayler terminations and a kill apiece from McKinney and Marcela Nalin while taking advantage of four SCU miscues to secure a 19-8 lead.
  • The Eagles scored three-straight to try to string something together, but MACU took advantage of side-out scoring the rest of the way as the Evangels secured the set with ease by a score of 25-15.
• Set Three
  • Mid-America Christian got off to a similar start to the third set as Atolagbe bashed three more kills during a 9-0 MACU streak to make it a commanding 11-3 MACU edge at the midway point.
  • The Evangels managed to build up a nine-point lead on two different occasions on a McKinney kill to make it 14-5 before tallying an ace to set it to 17-8, but the Eagles refused to go away by scoring seven of the next 10 to close it to a 20-15 game.
  • The remainder of the match consisted of nothing else but side-out scoring as the Evangels eventually finished it off on Mia Benson's match-point kill up the middle to seal the 25-19 result.

MATCH NOTES

• Overall, Mid-America Christian finished the match with a three-set season-high 49 kills on a .261 hitting percentage while Southwestern Christian could only muster 24 terminations on a .086 hitting rate. The 49 kills for MACU is tied for the fourth-most in a three-set match in the NAIA Era with the last coming in a sweep over Baptist Bible at the NCCAA National Championships on Nov. 29, 2023.
• Seyi Atolagbe spearheaded the MACU attack with a career-high 18 kills on her second-best attack percentage ever at .696.
• For the first time in her illustrious Evangels career, Casady McKinney recorded a triple-double as she finished with 16 assists and 10 kills on a stellar .304 attack rate to go with 10 digs in the back row.
• Madi Trayler was efficient from the right side with seven kills on a strong .429 hitting percentage.
• Leading the distribution efforts was Madison Lee, recording 22 assists to go with eight digs and three service aces.
• Ryley Bowden led the back row with 15 digs, averaging 5.0 digs per set to go with seven assists in the passing game.
• By getting the three-set sweep, the Evangels swept the season series from Southwestern Christian after getting a sweep by a scores of 25-11, 25-12, and 25-16 inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Sept. 20. MACU has now swept SCU in six-straight matches.
• MACU continues to stay in a dog fight for one of the top four seeds as OPSU was swept at Nelson, but Wayland Baptist upset SAC leader Texas Wesleyan in straight-sets to stay tied with the Evangels for the No. 3 spot in the league standings.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up the regular season with a massive road match against Oklahoma City inside Abe Lemons Arena on Saturday with the opening serve set for 1 p.m.