POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The MACU Volleyball team could not have gotten off to a better start to the College of the Ozarks Fall Volleyball Classic inside Keeter Gymnasium on Friday afternoon as the Evangels cruised to a pair of three-set sweeps over Avila and Mission.
 
MATCH ONE / Mid-America Christian vs. Avila
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Avila 0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-19)
  • Mid-America Christian (3-1)
  • Avila (2-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Seyi Atolagbe – 9 Kills, .563 ATK%
• Mia Benson – 6 Kills, .600 ATK%, 3 Blocks
• Ryley Bowden – 11 Digs, 6 Aces, 3 Assists,
• Casady McKinney – 14 Assists, 3 Digs

MATCU SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Even though Mid-America Christian was able to grab an early five-point lead on back-to-back Ryley Bowden service aces to make it 8-3, Avila battled back by scoring four of the next five to make it a 9-7 contest.
  • Through the midway point, the Evangels pulled back away from AU, utilizing a 6-1 surge capped off on a Seyi Atolagbe kill to extend the lead to 15-8.
  • Avila won three of the next four rallies to close it to a 16-11 game, but that was the closest it could cut into the MACU lead as the Evangels closed out on a 9-4 run capped off on an Alica Obsekova set point kill to seal the 25-15 win.
• Set Two
  • While Avila was able to keep it to within a one-point game at 4-3 in the early going, the Evangels gained some big time breathing room behind a five-unanswered streak with Madison Lee's service ace shanked out the side making it a 9-3 score.
  • The Eagles brought it back to within two at 10-8 nearing the midway point of the set, after eight consecutive side out points, the Evangels were finally able to build their lead back out following a 5-1 run with Mia Benson hammering a kill that Mission couldn't handle to make it 19-13.
  • The Evangels ran away with it down the final stretch, taking as large as a nine-point lead before Atolagbe finished off the nine-point final on a powerful set-point kill to wrap-up the 25-16 result.
• Set Three
  • MACU held a slim one-point lead through the first five rallies before the Evangels sparked a string of five straight that was finished off when Bowden dropped her lone kill of the match perfectly into the back-right corner to make it 8-2.
  • While the Eagles fought back to cut their deficit in-half nearly midway through at 11-8, the Evangels once again utilized a strong run to pull away, scoring seven of the next nine with Bowden's sixth ace of the match making it 18-10.
  • A string of three-straight AU points ignited a 7-2 Eagles run of their own to close the match back to three at 20-17, forcing MACU head coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout.
  • The regrouping served the Evangels well as MACU went on to score five of the final six points with Ava Johnson coming up with the match-point cross-court shot from the left side to seal the 25-19 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together its best match of the season in the attack, registering 37 kills and only six attack errors for a .369 hitting percentage while Avila finished with 32 kills and 17 miscues for a .181 attack clip.
• While the MACU defense was able to hold down Avila's attack in the first two sets with the Eagles notching 17 kills on a .074 attack percentage, the Evangels managed to survive a blistering AU attack in the third set after hitting 15 kills on a .379 hitting clip. One of the big reasons was due to the Eagles also not having an answer for the Evangels attack in the third stanza as MACU tallied 15 kills with just one error on a blazing .452 attack rate.
• The six attack errors for the Evangels marked their fewest in a match since Nov. 18, 2021 when the Evangels recorded only five hitting miscues while coming away with a 3-0 win over College of the Ozarks in the NCCAA Central Region Championship.
• The service line played a massive factor in the result as the Evangels held a 17-10 in service scoring with 12 aces and seven errors while Avila could only muster three aces with five miscues.
• One of the biggest reasons for MACU's success in service was due to Ryley Bowden notching half of the aces as she finished with a career-high six aces and also led the defensive efforts with 11 digs.
• Even though the Evangels recorded 37 kills, the balance in the attack was downright incredible as 10 different MACU players recorded a kill with four players tallying five or more terminations. Seyi Atolagbe led the Evangels with nine kills and no errors on a blistering .563 hitting percentage. Mia Benson was also outstanding from the middle, turning in six kills on a .600 attack rate.
• Casady McKinney led MACU's distribution efforts with 14 assists and three digs in defense while Madison Lee also cracked double-figures with 11 dimes.
• With both teams being much better in the back row than front-row blocking, the Evangels finished with four team blocks while the Eagles were unable to reject the MACU attack a single time in the match. Benson led the blocking efforts with three assisted rejections while Alica Obusekova tallied a pair.
• The result marked the second-straight year the Evangels were able to sweep Avila in the COFO Fall Volleyball Classic as MACU came away with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-16 win over the Eagles in last year's meeting in Keeter Gymnasium on Aug. 31.

MATCH TWO / Mid-America Christian vs. Mission
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Mission 0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-15)
  • Mid-America Christian (4-1)
  • Mission (1-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Seyi Atolagbe – 8 Kills, .538 ATK%, 4 Blocks
• Alica Obusekova – 7 Kills, .313 ATK%, 3 Digs
• Karlee Siegfried – 6 Kills, .357 ATK%, 3 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 19 Assists, 3 Digs, 2 Aces, 2 Kills, .250 ATK%
• Ryley Bowden – 14 Digs, 3 Aces, 2 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • With it being a one-point contest through the first five rallies, Mid-America Christian got some breathing room behind a 5-0 run featuring back-to-back kills from Alica Obusekova and Casady McKinney as well as consecutive Ryley Bowden service aces to make it 8-2.
  • While Mission rattled off a 3-1 run to make it 13-7 midway through, a Mia Benson side-out termination jumpstarted a dominant 7-1 surge with the lone Patriots point coming on a MACU service error as the Evangels expanded their commanding advantage to 20-8.
  • The Evangels grabbed their largest lead of the set on consecutive kills from Seyi Atolagbe and McKinney to make it 23-10 and while Mission managed to score the next three, the lead was too large for MACU as it finished it out on back-to-back Alica Obusekova terminations.
• Set Two
  • Mission kept it close through the first 12 rallies before Karlee Siegfried's side-out kill propelled MACU to a string of 10-straight points to seize an overpowering 17-5 advantage.
  • The Evangels ran into some issues in the attack toward the second half as five MACU attack errors during a 9-3 Patriots run allowed MU to cut it back to a seven-point contest at 21-14.
  • The Patriots were unable to climb any closer the rest of the way as the Evangels wrapped up the set on a powerful Benson slam to seal the 25-17 final.
• Set Three
  • The Evangels asserted their dominance early by scoring the first six points with McKinney tallying a pair of aces.
  • With MACU maintaining an eight-point advantage midway through, the Evangels went on to capture their largest lead following a five-unanswered run as back-to-back Patriots attack errors set the score to 16-4.
  • Mission refused to go down without a fight, countering with four-straight as a 9-5 surge allowed the Patriots to close it to 21-13 on a Shelby Evans kill.
  • Mid-America Christian refused to let Mission climb any closer, scoring on four of the last six rallies as Ava Johnson notched her second match-point kill of the day to wrap-up the 25-15 contest.

MATCH NOTES

• The match wasn't Mid-America Christian's cleanest in the attack as the Evangels finished with 33 kills and 15 errors for a .191 hitting percentage, but the MACU defense frustrated Mission into hitting in the negatives, tallying 16 kills and 27 miscues for a -.121 attack rate.
• The Evangels set another best mark since the 2021 season in this match with the Patriots' -.121 attack rate being the lowest against MACU since Centenary (La.) hit for a -.122 in a three-set sweep on Sept. 4, 2021 at the Lyon Highlander Invitational.
• One of the primary reasons for MACU's stout defense was its blocking scheme as the Evangels finished with a season-high nine rejections at the net.
• Even though the Evangels doubled up the Patriots in the service ace department at 8-4, MACU gave MU 10 points in service errors while Mission totaled four aces and five errors in service.
• Mid-America Christian got some strong production from its top three attackers in Seyi Atolagbe, Alica Obusekova, and Karlee Siegfried. Atolagbe once again hit above .500 with eight kills on a .538 rate while Obusekova tallied her seven terminations on a .313 rate and Siegfried notched six kills on a .357 clip.
• Casady McKinney led the distribution efforts with 19 assists while Ryley Bowden again led the back row with 14 digs to go with three more service aces on the day.
• Mia Benson led MACU's blocking efforts with five total blocks (1 solo, 4 assisted) while Atolagbe also chipped in with four assisted rejections.
• The result marked MACU's 13^th-straight win over the Patriots since 2004 while being the team's first sweep over MU since the NCCAA National Championships in the very same venue on Nov. 29, 2023.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will face its toughest test of the tournament on Saturday morning as the Evangels square off against Saint Mary (Kan.) at 10:30 am before wrapping up the COFO Fall Volleyball Classic against Williams Baptist (Ark.) at 3:30 pm inside Keeter Gymnasium.