SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – MACU Volleyball secures a bounce-back win over John Brown, influenced by a season-high in service aces to win 3-1 inside the Bill George Arena on Saturday afternoon.   
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, John Brown 1 (25-20, 25-27, 25-18, 25-12)
  • Mid-America Christian (10-6, 6-3 SAC)
  • John Brown (6-11, 2-7 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Alica Obusekova – 15 Kills, .484 ATK%
• Marcela Nalin – 12 Kills, .450 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Mia Benson – 9 Kills, .412 ATK%, 1 Block
• Karlee Siegfried – 9 Kills, .250 ATK%, 1 Block
• Casady McKinney – 44 Assists, 8 Digs, 5 Aces, 3 Kills
• Ryley Bowden – 19 Digs, 8 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian jumped out to the perfect start with an 8-2 advantage through a pair of Marcela Nalin kills, followed by two aces from Sydney Martin.
  • The Golden Eagles fought back, winning eight of 10 rallies, cutting back into the Evangel lead, trailing by just three at 21-18. Kate Carlson added a kill and consecutive aces during the stretch.  
  • The third ace for Martin brought the Evangels to set point, but successive terminations from Clara Hyke sparked a late push for JBU. However, a service error from the Golden Eagles closed out the opening set 25-20.
• Set Two
  • The Evangels led 4-1 through a pair of Alica Obusekova kills. Mia Benson got on the board, followed by consecutive Nalin kills, extended the MACU lead to 8-4.
  • JBU tied up the set at 14-14, inspired by well-rounded offense as multiple attackers filled the stat sheet. An ace from Paige Addington drew it level.
  • The Evangels held a 17-16 advantage until the Golden Eagles won eight of the next nine rallies through frequent MACU errors to take the lead to 23-18.
  • MACU showed tremendous fight with its back against the wall, winning seven of the next eight points leveling the set at 24 a piece through another Obusekova termination and an ace from Kaetlen Schier. However, JBU reached set point with a Hyke kill, and finished the set off with a block from Akayla Kador to take set two 27-25.
• Set Three
  • MACU started strong once again winning six in a row to lead 7-2. A pair of kills from Obusekova and Benson aided in the early start to the set.
  • The Evangels continued the push off the back of consecutive aces from Casady McKinney and multiple errors from the Golden Eagles to extend the MACU lead to 22-11.
  • A late run from JBU through multiple aces and a pair of Hyke terminations cut into the lead at 24-18. However, it was Karlee Siegfried who put away the final point for MACU to win 25-18.
• Set Four
  • The Evangels fired off four straight kills with a pair from McKinney, and a single from both Obusekova and Benson to lead 5-2. Another ace from McKinney brought the MACU lead to 7-4.
  • MACU won 10 of the next 11 rallies to explode its lead out to 17-5. Multiple attacking options for the Evangels added kills with Nalin and Benson having two apiece.
  • Nalin connected with another termination to set up match point, where Madi Trayler put the exclamation point on the match to take the set 25-12.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was dominant in the attack, finishing with 54 kills to JBU's 45. The Evangels put together another great hitting percentage at .347.
• MACU finished with a season-high 13 service aces as Casady McKinney had five, Sydney Martin chipped in three, Madison Lee added a pair, and Alica Obusekova, Mia Benson, and Kaetlen Schier contributed one apiece.
• Obusekova led the MACU attacking efforts 15 kills on a season-high .484 hitting percentage, while Marcela Nalin added 12 kills on a .450 attack rate. Benson and Karlee Siegfreid finished with nine kills.
• Casady McKinney continued to lead the distribution efforts with 44 assists and eight digs. She also accomplished a season-high five aces.
• On the defensive side, Ryley Bowden had 19 digs to lead the back row while Martin added nine shovels. Nalin and McKinney led the blocking efforts with two total rejections each.  
• MACU snapped a two-game losing streak against JBU to secure only its third win inside the Bill George Arena in 18 appearances.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian stay on the road next weekend and head to Goodwell, Okla. to face Oklahoma Panhandle State on Friday night for a 6 pm start.