SIOUX CITY, Iowa — For the second night in a row, the McPherson College Bulldogs were part of the only five-set match of the day, but this time MC came out on top, taking down tenth-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University 3-2 Thursday (Dec. 5) to keep their championship hopes alive in Sioux City, Iowa.
"What a battle," head coach Cory Cahill said. "This team has no shortage of fight. We never stopped and we pulled through. We succeeded tonight."
The Bulldogs (30-6) now wait to find out their fate, needing a win by the Eagles tomorrow over St. Thomas University to force a tiebreaker scenario. If the Eagles win, the teams will play a one-set tiebreaker to 25 points to determine who will advance out of pool play. Only one team will advance to the bracket.
MC snapped a six-game losing streak to the Eagles, including a pair of five-set thrillers this season, both played down in Bartlesville, Okla. The Bulldogs also improved to 5-0 against Oklahoma Wesleyan when the game is played at a neutral site.
Brooke McHale had an excellent showing for the Bulldogs, finishing with a team-high 19 kills, thanks to a .366 attacking percentage. Daniela Jimenez and Hadley Waldren each added 10 kills apiece. Raegan Murphy facilitated the offense, leading with 34 assists and added a trio of kills.
Defensively, the Bulldogs finished with a season-high 14 blocks, led by Waldren and Enya Fierens with six blocking assists apiece. McHale added five and Jimenez finished with four blocking assists. Murphy and Katie Warden each had one solo block.
Celestina Retumban anchored the back row with 18 digs, while Murphy and Kenzie Cooper each added nine digs apiece.
The Bulldogs also had a season-high 10 service aces with McHale leading the way with three. Cooper and Reilly Murphy each finished with one ace.
MC came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, using a .343 attacking percentage to grab a 25-21 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
But the Eagles responded by jumping out to a 9-5 advantage in set two, before ballooning that lead to 16-10. However, the Bulldogs clawed back with five-straight points capped off by an ace by Laney Blake to pull within one. The Eagles closed out the frame, scoring five of the final six points to level the match score at one game apiece.
The Bulldogs seemed to have righted the ship in the early part of the third set, scoring the first four points starting with an ace by Cooper and ending with a block by Fierens and Jimenez, and even led 6-1 after an ace by Reilly Murphy. But the Eagles flexed their muscles, using a massive 17-3 burst to lead 19-9.
MC never quit, pulling within 24-16, before scoring the next seven points to make things interesting, but the Eagles finished it off after a kill by Tijana Stojilkovic.
Down 2-1 in the overall match, the Bulldogs came out swinging in the fourth, again scoring the first five points of the set, but the Eagles had an answer, knotting the score with a 5-0 burst of their own.
Things were back-and-forth for most of the way, but a solo block by Raegan Murphy forced a decisive fifth set.
The teams traded the first 11 points of the final set, before a 5-0 run by the Bulldog put them on top 10-6. The Eagles answered with four of the next five points, but a kill by Jimenez gave MC a 12-10 edge. Again, the teams traded points the rest of the way. Fierens finished it off with her ninth kill of the game.
Maia Rubio led the Eagles (31-3) with a tournament-high 29 kills, while 2023 NAIA First Team All-American Evelyn Rohrberg added 20 kills on 48 swings with eight errors. Rohrberg also had three service aces and two solo blocks. Sydney Collins recorded 65 assists.
The win is the 30th of the season, marks the first time since 2018 that the Bulldogs achieved that feat. It was also the program's second ever NAIA Tournament pool play win.
