OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 22, 2021) – Up two sets to one and 20-10 in the fourth set, adversity hit Oklahoma Christian on Friday night in its volleyball match against St. Edward's (Texas), but the Eagles fought through it.

Seeking to force a fifth set, the Hilltoppers cut OC's lead to 22-20. But after a well-placed timeout by OC coach Jason Skoch, the Eagles responded with three straight points and Morgan Demuth's 10th kill of the match gave the Eagles a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20) win in the Eagles' Nest.

For the first time since September, OC (7-14, 3-8 Lone Star Conference) has won consecutive home matches as the Eagles look to make a late run at securing a bid to the LSC postseason tournament. The top 12 teams at the end of the regular season will qualify and OC is only a half-game behind Western New Mexico for 12th place – and owns a potential tiebreaker with the Mustangs.

St. Edward's (9-8, 4-6) is only a game ahead of OC, tied for 10th with St. Mary's (Texas), the Eagles' opponent on Saturday at 2 p.m. St. Mary's beat OC 3-2 in a nonconference match on Sept. 4, with the Rattlers winning the fifth set 18-16 after OC failed to convert on a match point.

Against St. Edward's, OC hit. 174 and received great balance from its attackers. In addition to Demuth's 10 kills, two blocks and six block assists, three Eagles – Hannah Rouse, Kelsie Schiefelbein and Allyssa Hamlin – each had nine kills. Rouse also contributed 20 digs and five aces in a superb all-around math. Hamlin had 12 digs while Brylie Berryman had 24 to lead the Eagles.

Setter Spencer Plato – who had missed several recent matches due to injury – returned and contributed a team-high 22 assists to go with nine digs, relieving the load on junior defensive specialist Kyla Chavez, who had played major minutes as a setter while the three setters on the OC roster nursed injuries. Chavez still contributed a lot Friday, with 16 assists and eight digs.

The first two sets were close, but OC eventually won both. A 7-0 run early in the first set put the Eagles up 10-6, a subsequent 5-1 run made it 20-16 and an ace by Rouse finished the set. With the second set tied 15-15, OC went on a 5-1 spurt, highlighted by kills from Demuth and Hamlin, and a kill by Talby Duerksen ended the set and put the Eagles up 2-0.

OC led the third set 5-1 but St. Edward's went on a 7-2 run late in the set to pull it out. The Eagles started fast again in the fourth set, taking leads of 12-3, 16-5 and 19-7. OC led 20-10 after a kill by Lily Saenz before the Hilltoppers rallied within 22-20 after a couple of OC attack errors.

After Skoch called timeout, the Hilltoppers committed to attack errors to give OC match point, which Demuth converted on the first opportunity.

Kaitlyn Krafka had 13 kills and 18 digs for St. Edward's, while Maya Smalls had 14 kills for the Hilltoppers, who hit .124.