OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City Stars volleyball team fell in three sets to MACU in a competitive match against the cross-town rival.
Mid-America Christian 3, Oklahoma City 0
Set 1: 20-25
Set 2: 23-25
Set 3: 22-25
STAT OF THE GAME: Ruby Kelley notched her fifth double-double of the season after tying a game-high of 10 kills while setting a new season-high in digs with 19.
THE RUNDOWN
Set 1
Mid-America Christian opened the match by scoring the first four points of the beginning set behind a pair of kills from Miriam Nardi and Lena Stockhammer. Oklahoma City made its way cutting it to one on a
Maddie Edwards kill before the Evangels took off once again with an 8-2 run that gave MACU its biggest lead of the set at 17-10. OCU made its way back with three straight points behind two kills from
Rylee Steward and one by
Ruby Kelley eventually cutting the deficit to four. After scoring two in a row with MACU having set point the Evangels put a stop to the Stars 6-2 run as Alica Obusekova settled the first set with a kill to win 25-20.
Set 2
MACU came out hot on a 5-1 run to begin the second set however Oklahoma City channeled its own run and worked its way back to take a 9-8 lead. After
Grace Smallwood made it 10-10 with a kill, Mid-America Christian regained the momentum by putting together a 10-2 run that made it 20-12 Evangels. OCU refused to lay down and quit as the Stars kept this set of runs going by rattling off five straight points on kills by Smallwood and Steward. MACU held set point with a 24-20 advantage before OCU made it interesting as Jaien Downey delivered a kill and
Natalie Adams served up an ace to make it 24-23. Lena Stockhammer put a stop to the Stars run with a kill to end it at 25-23 to take a 2-0 lead over OCU.
Set 3
Both teams traded blows early on as the lead switched sides back and forth. Tied up 10-10, Oklahoma City put together a 6-1 run as
Michela De Stefano and
Ruby Kelley delivered two kills each taking a four point lead. Right out of a MACU timeout the Evangels stormed off on an 8-1 run grabbing the lead for the final time. OCU was able to cut the deficit to two thanks to a Steward kill but hole the Stars fell into was to much to climb out of as MACU secured the final point to win in three.
Games Notes
- With the loss, Kristen Coventon moves to 100-54 at Oklahoma City and 186-138 all-time.Â
- The loss snapped the Stars five game winning streak and handed Oklahoma City its second loss in conference play.
- Mid-America Christian held a .224 attack percentage the third best by an opponent this season.
- Oklahoma City held the advantage in aces at 5-2 and in blocks at 5-3.
- Rylee Steward tallied the second most kills on the night with nine to go along with two blocks.
- Natalie Adams reached double-digit assists for the 13th time in 14 games this season leading the team with 17.
- Jaiden Downey also broke into double-double digits with 10 assists being the ninth straight game with 10 or more.Â
- The win for MACU gave the Evangels its fifth straight win over OCU and second sweep in the five matchups.
- The series record moves to 32-7 all-time in favor of Oklahoma City dating back to 2006.
Up Next
Oklahoma City will look to bounce back on Saturday against Science & Arts inside Abe Lemons Arena at 1:00 PM.
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 theÂ
SAC Sports Network.
Â