OKLAHOMA CITY – The OCU volleyball team struggled to find its rhythm as MACU came away with a three-set sweep to wrap up the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play on Thursday night inside Abe Lemons Arena.  

Score   

Mid America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 0   

• Oklahoma City (8-7, 7-3 SAC)   
• MId-America Christian (11-8, 7-3 SAC)   

Match Summary   

Set 1: 25-9 (MACU)   

Set 2: 25-16 (MACU)   

Set 3: 25-21 (MACU)   

Set 1

Ruby Kelley started the match with a kill as OCU took a 1-0 lead only for the Evangels to turn around and rally five straight to take a 5-1 lead. The Stars cut it back to 7-5 however MACU caught fire and went off on a 10-1 run with kills from Sawyer Franz and Annabeth Fehrle to give the Evangels a 17-6 lead. The MACU was just too much for the Stars to overcome as an ace from Sydney Martin capped off the first set for a 25-9 win for MACU.  

Set 2 

The momentum for the Evangels carried right into the second set, scoring the first four points and eventually taking a 10-3 lead going into a Stars timeout. Gabrielle Fjeseth cut the lead to eight as MACU was up 15-7 however another MACU rally of eight consecutive points put the Evangels up big again at 23-7. An attack error and a Ruby Kelley kill as well as one more point for MId-America Chrisitan gave the Evangels set point at 24-9. OCU finally hit their stride and began to battle back as Rylee Steward supplied two kills along with Natalie Adams and Kelley getting into the mix. MACU took a timeout hoping to end the 7-0 from OCU. Out of the timeout with the score sitting at 24-16 Fehrle for MACU was able to win the set for MACU and denied the comeback from Oklahoma City.  

Set 3 

OCU started set three the best it did all night as the Stars took a 6-2 lead with kills from Adams and Emma Nickerson. MACU was able to fight its way back into it by taking its first lead since it was 1-0 at 14-13. Tied up at 16 a piece the Evangels went off for four points in a row and eventually led to a timeout from head coach Kristen Coventon with the score sitting at 21-18 in favor of MId-America Christian. Kelley was able to deliver more kills for the Stars however MACU held all the momentum as Lena Stockhammer finished off the third set to win the match on a kill to make it 25-21. 

GAME NOTES 

• Oklahoma City tallied 25 kills on a -.009 hitting percentage while picking up 23 assists.  
• MACU led the way with 31 kills .152 attack percentage to go along with 30 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 ninth time this season with 11 kills. Kelley tallied six digs and had the team's only ace.  
• Natalie Adams delivered 20 assists, making it the 13th time Adams has supplied 20 more assists in a match.  
•  OCU lost its third straight game to MACU as the Evangels swept the Stars for only the second time in the series history with the only other time coming Oct. 9, 2007. The all-time series record still favors OCU as the Stars hold a 32-5 advantage over the Evangels.  

NEXT GAME 

The Oklahoma City volleyball team will take a week off before being back in action as the Stars continue their home stand on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 PM against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside Abe Lemons Arena.