South OKC News

The Mid-America Christian volleyball team made history on Tuesday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center as not only did the Evangels host their first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal match, but MACU will also be advancing to its first ever SAC Semifinal after sweeping Oklahoma Panhandle State in straight sets.

 

SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma Panhandle State 0 (25-12, 25-22, 27-25)
  • Mid-America Christian (19-12)
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State (20-11)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Lena Stockhammer – 16 Kills
• Vanessa Moreira – 8 Kills, .263 ATK%, 4 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 37 Assists, 11 Digs, 4 Kills, .267 ATK%
• Marlee Hunter – 16 Digs, 4 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Despite giving up two of the first three points, Mid-America Christian put together a dominant run as Vanessa Moreira kill followed by a Sydney Martin service ace ignited a 13-3 Evangels run capped off on a Sarah Jones and Cloie Mitchell assisted block to make it a 14-5 score.
  • After the Aggies once again scored two of the next three, MACU ran away with the set once again as back-to-back terminations from Moreira and Mitchell jump started a string of seven unanswered before Faith Foutch dropped an ace in to set the score to 22-7.
  • OPSU managed to survive three game-points before Lena Stockhammer finished off the set with her fourth kill to seal the 25-12 victory.
  • Mid-America Christian recorded 12 kills on a highly efficient .400 attack percentage while the Evangels defense frustrated the Aggies into recording just seven kills and hitting into 10 errors for a -.107 hitting clip.
• Set Two
  • While OPSU briefly took the lead through the first five rallies, a string of four straight behind a Moreira termination and a pair of Stockhammer kills gave MACU the momentum heading into the midway point as the Evangels held a 12-8 advantage.
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State surged back by taking advantage of a 6-2 run to take a brief 17-16 lead on a Bryanna Rosario kill.
  • The Evangels managed to tie it up on a Jones and Stockhammer assisted block before taking five of the next six points to stretch the MACU edge to 21-18, forcing the Aggies to call a timeout.
  • OPSU scored the next two to close it to a one-point game, but the Evangels scored four of the final six points as an Ebony Dykes attack error on game-point secured a 25-22 set two win for MACU.
  • Both defenses were able to force some long rallies as the two teams combined for 57 digs in the set. However, Mid-America Christian was still able to out-hit the Aggies with 18 kills on a .236 attack percentage while OPSU notched just 12 terminations on a .120 hitting clip.
  • Stockhammer once again led the MACU attack with five kills at a .231 rate while Mitchell chipped in four on a .400 rate.
• Set Three
  • Panhandle State opened strong by scoring four of the first five, but the Evangels countered with a seven unanswered as four Stockhammer slams along with a McKinney kill made it an 8-4 Evangels' edge.
  • Two rallies later, OPSU surged back with six straight points as an Angela Youngs kill gave the Aggies an 11-9 lead midway through the set.
  • At the start of the second half, the two teams traded runs as a MACU 4-1 surge and an OPSU 3-1 run briefly gave the Aggies the 16-15 edge before terminations from Moreira and Stockhammer sandwiched a pair of Martin aces to give the Evangels the lead back at 19-16.
  • It looked as though MACU was going to run away with it when Miriam Nardi's kill brought it to match-point at 24-20, but the Aggies scored five in a row to push game-point in the Aggies favor following a Youngs kill to make it 25-24.
  • Following a Lesly Galarza service error and a Laren Baldowsky attack error, Mitchell secured the win for the Evangels with a kill on a cross-court shot that went off the receive of Gracie Soza and out-of-bounds to make it a 27-25 final.
  • While the Evangels finished with 16 kills, MACU recorded just a .088 attack percentage in the set with 11 attack errors while the Aggies tallied 12 kills on a .140 hitting rate. MACU struggled against the OPSU block that recorded four blocks in the set.
  • The Evangels were able to make up some points in service as the MACU tallied four aces, two from Martin while the Aggies were unable to force an ace against the MACU receive.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished with 46 kills in the attack on an efficient .204 attack percentage while limiting Oklahoma Panhandle State to 31 terminations at a .078 hitting clip.
• Lena Stockhammer was the lone Evangel to crack double-digit kills with 16 on a .163 attack rate, but the Evangels did have some offensive balance with Cloie Mitchell and Vanessa Moreira tallying eight kills apiece on a .214 and .263 hitting percentages.
• Sarah Jones also got involved in the MACU attack with six kills at a .357 clip while also finishing with a team-high three assisted blocks.
• Casady McKinney recorded a double-double with 37 assists and 11 digs while also recording four kills on a .267 rate.
• Four Evangels players finished with double-digit digs as Marlee Hunter led the way with 16 while Faith Foutch shoved 13 to go with Sydney Martin's 10 digs.
• Mid-America Christian has now won three straight matches in straight sets against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside the Gaulke Activity Center. The Evangels topped the Aggies 25-20, 25-23, 25-21 in their last meeting on Oct. 7.
• After narrowly missing advancing to the SAC Semifinal in two of their last three quarterfinal matches in five-set affairs, the Evangels were finally able to advance to the championship site for the first time in program history.
• MACU put together a strong showing inside the Gaulke Activity Center during the 2022 season once again by going 12-4 inside the venue with all four losses coming against teams with a combined .938 winning percentage.

Original source can be found here