Mid-America Christian University

McPHERSON, Kan. – The MACU Volleyball team wrapped up its 3-0 week with another dominant win at Central Christian on Saturday afternoon as the Evangels swept the Tigers in straight sets to start its four-match road stand.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Central Christian 0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-20)
  • Mid-America Christian (14-10, 9-8 SAC)
  • Central Christian (0-24, 0-18 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Ava Stewart – 9 Kills, .412 ATK%, 2 Digs
• Morgan Cross – 7 Kills, .400 ATK%, 4 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Kristen Straughn – 18 Assists, 7 Digs
• Jasmine Liongco – 12 Assists, 5 Aces, 5 Digs
• Gracelyn Skaggs – 12 Digs, 4 Assists
• Madison Lee – 11 Digs, 3 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian held a slim advantage through the first nine rallies before a Central Christian attack error started a six-unanswered Evangels run as Madison Lee scored a pair of service aces to stretch the MACU advantage to 11-4.
  • The Evangels maintained the same advantage over the next 14 rallies before scoring three-straight kills from Katie Stafford, Morgan Cross, and Ava Stewart to make it a double-digit edge at 21-11, forcing the Tigers to call a timeout.
  • CCCK scored two of the next three, but the Evangels finished it out by scoring the final three as Stewart's side-out kill and Jasmine Liongco's ace brought it to set point before Liongco finished it off herself with a setter dump to seal the 25-13 result.
• Set Two
  • The Evangels opened the second set by scoring the first four points on a pair of kills from Seyi Atolagbe and Marcela Nalin to go with two CCCK attack errors before eventually stretching their lead out to 7-2 with Nalin scoring another kill along with a Tigers hitting error.
  • Central Christian countered with three in a row to close the gap to two on Hannah Stewart's kill, making it 7-5 before the Evangels utilized a 3-0 run of their own off of three Tigers miscues to double-up the advantage at 10-5.
  • After going score-for-score with multiple side-out scores over the next 15 rallies, a strong kill from Mia Benson on the outside ignited a dominant seven-unanswered run to close it out with Cross tooling a kill off the block out of bounds for the 25-12 victory
• Set Three
  • MACU once again utilized a strong start to the third to gain the advantage, taking the first five rallies on a pair of kills from Atolagbe and Bailey White to go along with two Liongco aces and a CCCK hitting error.
  • The Evangels continued to build upon their lead over the course of the set, eventually stretching it to 21-10 on a Mia Benson bash.
  • After trading the next two points, Central Christian made a big push against some of MACU's reserves as the Tigers went on an 8-1 run to close the gap to 23-19, forcing MACU Head Coach Holly McKamie to call a timeout.
  • Stewart scored a side-out kill to stop the bleeding and even though the Tigers got a point back on Lee's attack error, Atolagbe powered down the match point kill to wrap-up the 25-20 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the match with 38 kills with 10 errors for a .289 hitting percentage while the Evangels defense frustrated Central Christian, limiting the Tigers to 22 kills with 19 errors for a .030 attack rate.
• The Evangels gained a substantial advantage from the service line, scoring eight aces while navigating around nine errors while the Tigers finished with only two aces and nine errors for a 17-11 edge from the line.
• MACU put together a balanced offensive effort with five players finishing with at least four kills while Ava Stewart led the efforts for the first time this season with a career-high nine kills on a career-best .412 hitting percentage.
• Morgan Cross also put together a solid match hitting from the left pin, notching seven terminations on a .400 hitting clip to go along with four digs and two block assists.
• Kristen Straughn led the distribution efforts with 18 assists while Jasmine Liongco turned in 12 to go along with a career-high five service aces and five digs.
• Gracelyn Skaggs and Madison Lee led MACU's back row efforts as the only players in double-figures with Skaggs shoveling 12 while Lee added 11 with a trio of aces to go with it.
• With the win, MACU swept the season series after taking down the Tigers in straight-sets inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Sept. 18.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will continue its road trek next week as it will head east to take on College of the Ozarks on Thursday, Oct. 29 inside Keeter Gymnasium in Point Lookout, Mo.