OKLAHOMA CITY – MACU Volleyball returned to winning ways on Friday night with a dominant 3-1 win over Oklahoma City as a pair of freshmen in Karlee Siegfried and Seyi Atolagbe had massive nights inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-21, 25-14)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-4)
  • Oklahoma City (3-8)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Karlee Siegfried - 12 Kills, .583 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Seyi Atolagbe – 10 Kills, .474 ATK%, 3 Blocks
• Alica Obusekova – 13 Kills, .163 ATK%, 3 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 35 Assists, 8 Digs, 4 Kills, .364 ATK%
• Ryley Bowden – 28 Digs

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  •  Mid-America Christian started out strong, scoring three of the first four points by getting a kill apiece from Seyi Atolagbe and Casady McKinney. However, the Stars battled back to cut it to a one-point game on a Grace Smallwood kill to make it 12-11 midway through.
  • A side-out kill by Alica Obusekova jumpstarted a massive 11-2 Evangels run as Smallwood's hitting error gave MACU a 23-13 advantage.
  • The Stars scored three in a row on kills from Marina Kalajdzic and Bailey Lowder to go with a Katelyn Stephenson ace, but the Evangels closed it out by scoring on a pair of Karlee Siegfried kills to wrap-up the 25-17 win.
• Set Two
  • MACU started off strong by scoring four of the first six before OCU responded with a 9-1 run as three straight MACU attack errors gave the Stars a 13-5 advantage at the midway point.
  • The Evangels scored three in a row due in large part to back-to-back service aces from Sydney Martin. However, a pair of Lowder kills extended the Stars lead to 16-8.
  • MACU tied it at 19 apiece through an Obusekova kill winning three points in a row. OCU scored six of the final eight points to take set two finishing it off with a pair of Maddie Edwards kills to wrap-up the 25-21 final.
• Set Three
  • A series of four-point runs saw the Evangels jump out to an early 10-4 lead as Obusekova added a pair of terminations to go with a Martin service ace.
  • OCU fought back with back-to-back kills from Lowder and Erin Mack, tying it up at 18-18. However, the Evangels surged back in-front once more, winning four of the next five rallies as Madison Lee's ace brought it to 22-19.
  • MACU finished it off with consecutive kills from Atolagbe and Obusekova to take the third set 25-21 and regain the lead in the match.
• Set Four
  • The Evangels held the early advantage with kills coming from Atolagbe and Obusekova to open with a 6-3 lead. The Stars responded accordingly with back-to-back terminations of their own from Edwards and Smallwood, cutting the deficit to 7-6.
  • MACU piled on eight straight points to extend to a 15-6 lead. A kill from Siegfried started the streak, followed by a service ace from Mia Benson. Atolagbe added two consecutive kills before Marcela Nalin nailed three kills in a row for MACU.  
  • Atolagbe started the second surge for MACU with a kill, followed by a pair of Obusekova terminations, extending the edge to 21-10.
  • The fourth set deficit was too great for the Stars to overcome as Siegfried finished the match off with a powerful kill to seal the 25-14 win.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was the better side in the attack, racking up 44 kills to OCU's 40. The Evangels put together another outstanding defensive performance holding the Stars to their second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .068 while making seven blocks and recovering 70 digs.
• The service line played a major factor in the result as MACU finished with 10 aces doubling the amount that OCU finished with.
• Karlee Siegfried led the MACU attacking efforts with career-highs in kills with 12 and a .440 hitting percentage. Alica Obusekova finished with 13 kills on a .163 rate, and Seyi Atolagbe added 10 kills on an outstanding .474 hitting clip.
• Casady McKinney continued to be the engine of the Evangels attack, finishing with 35 assists, eight digs, and two aces to go along with four kills on a .364 hitting percentage on setter dumps.
• On the defensive side, Ryley Bowden had monstrous night with a four-set career-high 28 digs to lead the back row while Kaetlen Schier added 12 shovels. Mia Benson led the blocking efforts with four total rejections while Obusekova and Marcela Nalin added three blocks apiece.
• MACU continued to stay hot against OCU, winning its eighth in the last 10 matches against the Stars since the 2021 season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will stay at home to face another crosstown rival in Southwestern Christian on Saturday afternoon. First serve is slated for 1 pm inside the Gaulke Activity Center.