POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The MACU Volleyball team hung with College of the Ozarks in one of the toughest places to play in the SAC in Keeter Gymnasium, but the Evangels struggled to get things going over the final two sets as College of the Ozarks rallied from a set down to come away with the 3-2 win on Friday night.
 
SCORE

• College of the Ozarks 3, Mid-America Christian 2 (24-26, 25-14, 18-25, 25-18, 15-12)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-6, 5-3 SAC)
  • College of the Ozarks (10-3, 5-3 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Alica Obusekova – 19 Kills, .356 ATK%, 3 Digs
• Marcela Nalin – 11 Kills, .292 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 40 Assists, 21 Digs, 3 Kills
• Ryley Bowden – 21 Digs, 10 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian found itself in a massive hole in the early going as College of the Ozarks scored 10 of the first 13 points to seize a 10-3 advantage. However, the Evangels worked their way back in the match behind a 6-1 run featuring three Alica Obusekova kills to cut it to an 11-9 deficit.
  • After tying it on a pair of occasions, the Evangels finally took their first lead on a powerful swing from Obusekova on the left side to make it 16-15.
  • It was back-and-forth over the remainder of the set as the two teams exchanged leads four times before College of the Ozarks put MACU at the brink by scoring a kill by Krista Duffel to go with a Ryley Bowden attack error to make it 24-22.
  • The Evangels battled back behind the red-hot arm of Obusekova, as she scored three-straight points on kills before Casady McKinney won a joust at the net to force the ball down on COFO's side to secure the huge 26-24 comeback win.
• Set Two
  • Once again, the Bobcats captured the early edge, scoring nine of the first 13 points by taking advantage of the service line with three of the nine points coming off aces, forcing MACU head coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout.
  • The timeout did little to slow down COFO as the Bobcats answered by scoring nine of the next 12 points to take a commanding 18-7 lead.
  • Mid-America Christian was unable to put together any sort of run down the stretch to gain any ground as College of the Ozarks ran away with the 25-14 win to tie the match up.
  • Overall, COFO took advantage of an outstanding 11 kills and two errors for a .409 hitting percentage in the set as well as scored six service aces against MACU's back row.
• Set Three
  • Mid-America Christian scored the first five points behind the serve of Madison Lee to seize the early advantage, but Ozarks slowly worked its way back to make it a 9-8 game. A Marcela Nalin side-out kill and a Sydney Martin service ace briefly pushed the lead back out to three at 11-8 heading into the midway point.
  • College of the Ozarks eventually tied it at 13-all on an Anna Brunner kill before Obusekova got another kill off a COFO block error to put MACU back in-front. There was side-out scoring over the next six rallies before MACU strung together three-straight with Karlee Siegfried putting down a termination to make it 19-16 and forcing COFO to call a timeout.
  • MACU scored the next two out of the break with Mia Benson and Nalin rejecting a shot from the middle to extend the edge to 21-16, causing COFO to call its final timeout. The Bobcats scored the first two points out of the timeout to cut it to a three-point game, but the Evangels finished strong by scoring the final four as a pair of Siegfried finishes and a COFO attack error set up Seyi Atolagbe for the set point kill to seal the 25-18 win.
• Set Four
  • The Bobcats held the early control by scoring eight of the first 11 points before eventually stretching their lead to 13-7 at the midway point, forcing Coach McKamie to exhaust her first timeout.
  • COFO continued to stride forward to stretch is edge out to 17-7 before the Evangels started to chip their way back by scoring three-straight with Siegfried's massive kill setting the score to 17-10.
  • The Evangels eventually worked it down to a four-point deficit following four consecutive points scored on a Benson kill and service ace as well as kills apiece from Atolagbe and Siegfried, but the Bobcats closed it out by scoring the final three points to come away with the 25-18 victory and force the decisive fifth set.
• Set Five
  • It was the worst possible start for MACU in the fifth set as the Bobcats scored nine of the first 10 points before the Evangels stormed back by scoring seven of the next nine as Nalin's punch down kill after a deflected joust cut the deficit down to 11-8 and force the Bobcats into calling its first timeout.
  • The Evangels continued to battle back out of the break, as a Sydney Martin service ace to go with kills from Siegfried and Nalin tied it up at 11-all. However, the Bobcats stopped the run by scoring the next two to bring it to 13-11 and force MACU to call its final timeout.
  • MACU was unable to complete the comeback as COFO scored two of the final three as Brunner and Bri Linehan teamed up on Siegfried's swing to block the match point to secure the 15-12 result.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian struggled against College of the Ozarks' blocking scheme as the Evangels finished with 58 kills and 27 attack errors for a .176 hitting percentage while the Bobcats tallied their 59 kills with 19 miscues for a .231 attack rate.
• Of the 27 MACU attack errors, 14 of which were due to Bobcat blocks while the Evangels notched just five in the match.
• A team that scores frequently from the service line, the Evangels struggled to put down aces against the Bobcats back row as the Evangels finished with only six aces and six errors while the Bobcats tallied 10 aces against MACU to go nine miscues.
• Despite a tough night in the attack, the Evangels got a sensational performance out of their senior outside hitter Alica Obusekova, who put down a career-high 19 kills on a solid .356 hitting percentage. However, the only other Evangel to hit for an above .200 clip for the night was Marcela Nalin, who finished with 11 kills on a .292 percentage.
• Karlee Siegfried also finished with a career-high 14 kills.
• For just the fourth time in her Evangels career, Casady McKinney reached the 40-assist plateau and also tied for a team-lead 21 digs to notch a double-double for the match. Ryley Bowden also joined her with a double-double of her own, also shoveling 21 digs and also dished out 10 assists.
• The result marked the second-straight time the Evangels lost a five-set affair to College of the Ozarks after COFO secured the 3-2 win over MACU in the NCCAA Central Region Championship last season on Nov. 20, 2024. Keeter Gymnasium has been a tough place to play all season as COFO remained unbeaten in the building this season at 8-0. The Evangels are the first team in the SAC this season to take the Bobcats to five sets in their home venue.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will make the trek to Siloam Springs, Ark. on Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. match at John Brown inside Bill George Arena.