OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City volleyball team carries a five game winning streak into the weekend as the Stars host a pair of rivals in MACU and USAO inside Abe Lemons Arena on Friday and Saturday.

Friday, September 27
6:00 p.m. – Oklahoma City (6-7, 6-1 SAC) vs Mid-America Christian (8-6, 4-3 SAC)
Location: Oklahoma City | Abe Lemons Arena

Saturday, September 28
1 p.m. – Oklahoma City (6-7, 6-1 SAC) vs Science & Arts (6-10, 2-5 SAC)
Location: Oklahoma City | Abe Lemons Arena

STARS OUTLOOK
Oklahoma City enters the weekend on a heater winning five straight with three consecutive sweeps coming last week all on the road against Southwestern Christian, Central Christian and Langston. Head Coach Kristen Coventon earned her 100th win at OCU after the Stars defeated Langston on Saturday bringing Coventon's record to 100-53 over six seasons at Oklahoma City and 186-137 all time as a head coach. Oklahoma City will play at home for the just the third and fourth time this season as the Stars opened at home two weeks ago claiming a sweep over Wayland Baptist and a win in four sets over Oklahoma Panhandle State. 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Ruby Kelley
Kelley earned this week's Sooner Athletic Conference Attacker of the Week being the second time she has been selected as a Player of the Week after winning Defender of the Week two weeks ago. Kelley began the week on Tuesday helping Oklahoma City to a sweep over Southwestern Christian on the road. Kelley tied a game-high with eight kills being the first time this season she has not reached double-figures in kills or digs. On Friday, Kelley notched double-digit kills for the fifth time in six games with game-high 13 against Central Christian while collecting two blocks and a season-high three aces. On Saturday against Langston, Kelley helped the Stars finish off its week of sweeps as she tied a game-high with four blocks which is the fourth time she has done so this year. Kelley finished with eight kills and five digs. Kelley missed all of non-conference play but comes up 15 kills shy Grace Smallwood who sits second on the team, while being 20 kills behind the Stars leader Rylee Steward. This past week Kelley averaged 3.50 kills per set on a .372 ATT% with a total of 29 kills over three games.

Rylee Steward
Steward enters the weekend as the team-leader in kills (105) and blocks (35.0) as the senior comes off posting a season-high 13 kills in the win over Langston on Saturday. Earlier in the week against Southwestern Christian, Steward led the night with four blocks being the fourth time Steward has notched four or more in a single match this season. Steward is the current record-holder for the OCU volleyball program for total blocks in a single match which she set on Sept. 23, 2022 against Texas Wesleyan with 13 total. 

Natalie Adams
The Stars setter is off to a stellar start to her career as Adams just reached 1000 career assists in less than two years. Adams currently leads the team with 258 total assists averaging 5.73 assists per set. The sophomore set a season-high with 31 assists on Aug. 17 against College of Saint Mary and has tallied 30 or more twice this season. 

Grace Smallwood
This Stars freshman has done nothing short of impress in her short time at OCU as Smallwood is second on the team with 100 kills and also ranks second behind Kaitlyn Dunlap with 142 digs. Smallwood set back-to-back season-highs with 18 digs in the conference opening weekend against College of the Ozarks and John Brown. Smallwood tabbed a season-high of 14 kills in games against College of Saint Mary and #3 Eastern Oregon. 

SCOUTING THE EVANGELS...
Mid-America Christian comes in with an 8-6 overall record and 4-3 in conference play as winners of its last two contests. Through conference play, MACU has earned wins over Central Christian, Langston, College of the Ozarks and most recently on Wednesday sweeping Science & Arts. The Evangels suffered defeats to preseason number one and two Nelson and Texas Wesleyan while also dropping a matchup to John Brown in four sets. Senior Miriam Nardi leads the Evangels with 151 kills having her best match come against College of the Ozarks where she tallied a season-best 22 kills. Joining Nardi with 100 plus kills on the season is junior Alica Obusekova who set a new season-high on Wednesday against USAO with 13 kills on a .522 attack percentage. Casady McKinney comes off a strong outing on Wednesday leading the match with 24 assists being the ninth time this season that the Evangels junior has gone for 20 or more assists while ranking third in the conference with 299 total assists on the year. 

SCOUTING THE DROVERS...
Science & Arts enters the weekend on a three-game skid with a record of 6-10 overall while starting conference 2-5. During the Drovers losing streak, the team has yet to win a set suffering sweeps to College of the Ozarks, John Brown and MACU. The Drovers earned their two conference victories over Langston and Central Christian both finishing in three sets as the team has yet to play more than three sets in any of its conference matches. USAO is led in kills by Jaliyah Cox with 109 total on a .179 attack percentage. The junior outside hitter collected her season-best of 13 kills against Nelson on Sept. 5. Brynlee Birney ranks fourth in the conference with 241 digs on the season setting a season-high of 27 on Aug. 30 against Avila. The team will square off with Southwestern Christian on Friday before visiting OCU on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
In recent history, Mid-America Christian has had the Stars number winning four straight over Oklahoma City. However, despite the recent success Oklahoma City holds a 32-6 record over MACU since 2006 and took 27 of 28 against the Evangels from 2008 to 2021.

Science & Arts will be looking for its first ever over Oklahoma City as the Stars hold a 14-0 record against the Drovers dating back to 2016. OCU has strung together three straight sweeps over USAO and has only played one match in the series that went more than three sets.

FOLLOW THE STARS
Find all news, scores, highlights and updates on ocusports.com, Twitter (@ocustars), Instagram (@ocustars), Facebook (Oklahoma City University Stars) and Youtube (@ocustars). Catch every OCU home game and select away games on the SAC Sports Network.