Mid-America Christian University

OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Volleyball team put together a much better team performance on Saturday afternoon for a four-set win over Oklahoma Panhandle State to open a two-game buffer for the final playoff spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma Panhandle State 1 (25-14, 25-17, 20-25, 25-13)
  • Mid-America Christian: (11-10, 7-8 SAC)
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State: (5-13, 5-10 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Mia Benson: 14 Kills, .152 ATK%, 5 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Morgan Cross: 13 Kills, .476 ATK%, 2 Digs
• Seyi Atolagbe: 10 Kills, .400 ATK%, 2 Digs, Block
• Katie Stafford: 9 Kills, .333 ATK%, 3 Blocks, Assist
• Jasmine Liongco: 31 Assists, 14 Digs, Ace
• Gracelyn Skaggs: 18 Digs, 5 Assists, Ace

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • A competitive opening set started with both teams exchanging offensive blows through the first few rallies. Morgan Cross got the scoring started for MACU, as Mia Benson and Marcela Nalin joined right behind her. The opening set stayed all square up to 11-11 as Seyi Atolagbe recorded her first kill.
  • Mid-America Christian responded with 14 of the next 17 points for the first set with a stretch of eight consecutive rallies won thanks to some excellent defense. Katie Stafford registered a pair of blocks, assisted by Benson and Nalin.
  • The Aggies won two points in a row at 19-13, but the Evangels offense continued to impress as Stafford converted up the middle, followed by Madi Trayler who closed out the first set win 25-14 for MACU.
• Set Two
  • The Evangels came out red-hot in set two with a quick 9-3 lead thanks to a well-spread offense from the likes of Benson, Stafford, and Nalin. MACU continued its domination into the media timeout as Madison Lee's service ace put the Evangels up 15-5.
  • Seyi Atolagbe took over out of the timeout to extend the lead to 20-9 with back-to-back kills. The Evangels quickly reached set point at 24-13 after an ace from Kristen Straughn, followed by another kill from Mia Benson.
  • OPSU fended off four set points from MACU, but the damage was already done and an attack error from the Aggies gave the Evangels the 25-17 set two win.
• Set Three
  • The third set started much like the opening set as both the Evangels and Aggies traded rallies back and forth. Mia Benson continued to lead MACU offensively with a pair of kills in a 5-5 start.
  • The Evangels faced their largest deficit of the game thus far at 7-12 after the Aggies won seven of eight rallies. However, MACU fought back to level it at 14-14 through freshman Morgan Cross with three straight kills to spark the comeback.
  • Out of the media timeout, the Evangels found themselves down four once again after four straight from OPSU to lead 19-15. Cross continued her efforts to pull MACU back into the third set, but the Aggies responded well in a must-win set to take the third 25-20.
• Set Four
  • After falling behind 1-2 to start the fourth set, Mid-America Christian scored 14 consecutive points for its largest point streak of the season. Kaetlen Schier served two aces, Marcela Nalin punched in four kills, and Atolagbe added two during the run to give the Evangels a 15-2 advantage going into the media timeout.
  • The Aggies came out of the media timeout more aggressive on the offensive end and split rallies with the Evangels. But the MACU lead was too large as Seyi Atolagbe brought MACU match point at 24-11. Then Katie Stafford put the exclamation mark on the fourth set for a 25-13 dominant fourth set result.

MATCH NOTES

• MACU dominated offensively by a 57-38 margin in the kill department. The Evangels hit an efficient .268 ATK% as a team to the Aggies .110 ATK%.  
• Mia Benson led the Evangel attack with 14 kills and a .152 attack percentage. Freshman Morgan Cross played her best game in MACU colors with a career-high 13 kills on an efficient .476 ATK%. Always efficient Seyi Atolagbe reached double digits as well with 10 kills on .400 ATK%.
• Jasmine Liongco and Kristen Straughn both finished with a double-double as Liongco had 31 assists and 14 digs, while Straughn contributed 13 assists and 11 digs.  
• On the defensive end, the Sooner Athletic Conference dig leader Gracelyn Skaggs added 18 more to her tally. MACU improved tremendously on the block with eight, three from Katie Stafford and two apiece from Marcela Nalin and Mia Benson.  
• MACU took full advantage of its matchup against OPSU to move two games ahead, holding onto the eighth and final playoff spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings. With Science & Arts win this afternoon, the Evangels remain two games back of the seventh-place spot with a meeting with the Drovers coming later this season.
• MACU improved to 15-9 all-time against OPSU, as the Evangels have now beaten the Aggies in three consecutive matchups.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian hits the road for a short trip North to take on the Lions of Langston in a midweek SAC clash on Tuesday night for a 6 P.M. first serve.