OKLAHOMA CITY – The OCU volleyball team struggled to keep its momentum against MACU as the Evangels came away with a four-set win to wrap up its regular season match-up with the Stars on Thursday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center.   

Score    

Mid America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 1    

• Oklahoma City (12-12, 11-8 SAC)    
• MId-America Christian (18-10, 14-5 SAC)    

Match Summary    

Set 1: 25-23 (OCU)    

Set 2: 25-11 (MACU)    

Set 3: 25-18 (MACU)    

 Set 4: 25-13 (MACU)    

Set 1 

Ludmilla Souza started the match with a service error as OCU took a 1-0 lead followed by a kill by MACU's Miriam Nardi. The Stars kept the set neck and neck leading by 1 or tying the Evangels for the majority of the set. The Stars began to pull away leading the Evangels 21-18 coming off of a service ace from Hannah Grundy. The Evangels were able close the gap and bring the game within a point before OCU called for a timeout. Following the timeout, the Stars were able to finish the Evangels off at the hands of a kill by Ruby Kelley, winning the set 25-23.  

Set 2  

The Stars began the second set with a pair of attack errors leading to the Evangels taking a 2-0 lead. The Evangels went on a 7-2 run leading to a Stars timeout. The stars continued to struggle trailing 11-2 but finally caught a break on a kill from Natalie Adams. MACU remained dominant leading to a 16-5 run against the stars resulting in another timeout called by OCU. OCU struggled to find its footing out of the timeout only scoring 6 more points before the Evangels finished off the second set with a score of 25-11.  

Set 3  

OCU started set three with a 2-0 lead at the hands of errors by the Evangels. A Block at the net by OCU's Rylee Steward and Marina Kalajdzic ignited a run for the Stars going up 6-2. The Evangels in turn went on a run of their own holding off the Stars over the next few plays to tie the game up at 6-6. The Stars and Evangels were able to maintain each other until the Evangels went on a 21-16 rally leading to Stars head coach Kristen Coventon. The Stars battled coming out of the timeout but ultimately weren't able to stop the Evangels strong hitting performance falling in the third set 25-18 off of a Lena Stockhammer kill.  

Set 4 

MACU had its most dominant performance in the fourth set, looking to put the stars away early going on a 10-3 run before a timeout by OCU. MACU continued its run following the timeout going up 14-3 before OCU was able to break back into the scoring column getting a kill by Ruby Kelly. Stars Libero Kaitlyn Dunlap continued the scoring trend serving an Ace in hopes of closing the gap and halting the Evangels run. The stars were able to rally and tack on a few more aces and kills but ultimately could not stop the Evangels strong hitting performance losing the fourth and final set 25-13.  

GAME NOTES  

• Oklahoma City tallied 25 kills on a .007 hitting percentage while picking up 23 assists.   
• MACU led the way with 53 kills .241 attack percentage to go along with 50 assists.   
• The Evangels were able to rally off eight aces, the second most the Stars have allowed this season. Oklahoma City ended with only one ace which happened to be its second-lowest total of the season.   
• Ruby Kelley picked up double-digit kills for the third straight game and the 16th time this season going over 10 kills. Kelley also tallied 10 digs and led the team in aces with three.   
• Natalie Adams delivered 20 assists, making it the 22nd time the freshman has supplied 20 more assists in a match.   
•  OCU lost its fourth straight match to MACU although the all-time series record still favors the Stars holding on to a 32-6 advantage over the Evangels.   

NEXT GAME  

The Oklahoma City volleyball team will be back in action for its final regular season game at USAO at 10 AM before heading into the SAC tournament the kickoff post-season play.