COMMERCE, Texas (Nov. 16, 2021) – Through all the adversity – the final two sets going to overtime, having to fight off three match points, trailing 13-10 in the fifth set – Oklahoma Christian's young Eagles never blinked on Tuesday night and quite possibly turned a proverbial corner as a program.

As a result, the 12th-seeded Eagles – who two weeks ago needed four straight wins and some tiebreaker luck just to qualify for the Lone Star Conference Championship tournament – now will be advancing in that event. OC's fifth straight win was a thriller as the Eagles upset No. 5 seed Texas A&M-Commerce 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 18-25, 29-27, 16-14) at The Field House.

Down 14-13 in the fifth set, a kill by Morgan Demuth wiped out a TAMUC match point. A bad set by the Lions' Celeste Vela – who otherwise was brilliant, with 59 assists and 20 digs – then gave OC a match point. The Eagles extended the point long enough for TAMUC's Maddy Rashford to hit an attack attempt out of bounds. After an initial burst of joy, the Eagles had to wait out a challenge by TAMUC, which officials overruled, before celebrating again in earnest.

The first postseason win since OC volleyball was revived with the 2021 spring season propelled the Eagles (12-17) into a quarterfinal match on Thursday at 5 p.m. against fourth-seeded West Texas A&M (20-4) in San Angelo, Texas. The winner will likely play top-seeded and No. 6-ranked Angelo State on Friday in a semifinal match. The title match is scheduled for Sunday.

"We're just grateful to God," OC coach Jason Skoch said. "We're grateful that He has put a fighting spirit in the girls, because this has been a long season. We're banged up and don't have a lot of subs. I've told the girls from the get-go about character and challenging them on character and how we're going about things and heart.

"How we got into the tournament, and then to beat an amazing Commerce team the way we did, I'm happy for the kids to see what happens when you invest and just sort of buy in. You work as a team and seeing their joy and watching them run to the locker room and getting so happy in the locker room, when you're training kids that aren't used to that … they won't believe until they see. You've got to get to the other side. … It's great to see the girls' cohesion and the girls getting a reward for that."

The Eagles pulled off the shocker at TAMUC with outstanding defense – their 157 digs were far and away a single-match school record, as were the 42 individual digs by Brylie Berryman – and solid offense, as OC posted a .215 hitting percentage. Four Eagles posted double-digit kills – Allyssa Hamlin (18 kills, 27 digs), Hannah Rouse (14 kills, 33 digs), Demuth (14 kills, eight digs) and Yolaine Lopez (12 kills).

Berryman, who also had 10 assists, and setters Spencer Plato (32 assists, 19 digs) and Kyla Chavez (13 assists, 15 digs) also recorded double-doubles as the Eagles continually fended off TAMUC attacks and limited the Lions to a .190 attack percentage.

For some perspective, the Eagles' 157 digs were 50 more than they'd had in any match this season and the highest total by any LSC team in a match this season – but only 13 more than TAMUC had against OC. (No. 3 on that LSC list was 119.)  Berryman's dig total was the highest in a match by a LSC player this season, one more than TAMUC's Lyric Hebert, who had 41 digs on Tuesday. Rouse's dig total ranked fifth on this season's LSC single-game list.

Did we mention there was some defense played in the match?

"To be honest, I don't know how we won," Skoch said. "That's a good team. They're bigger than us. I think we had (157) digs, which is astronomical at the college level. That alone tells us that our kids were willing to fight defensively."

Unlike the regular-season meeting between the clubs – which TAMUC (14-10) won 3-0 in short order on Oct. 2 in Commerce – the Eagles were in the rematch from the start. The Lions led 21-17 in the first set before the Eagles closed on an 8-2 run and it was game on.

OC jumped to a 12-6 lead in the second set, but the Lions rallied to pull even at 15-15 and eventually evened the match. When TAMUC won the third set comfortably, it seemed the Eagles' chance at winning had passed.

Not so fast. After trailing most of the fourth set, the Eagles went up 21-20 on an ace by Berryman and a kill by Hamlin gave them a two-point lead. OC had a set point at 24-23, which the Lions fought off. TAMUC earned set points at 25-24 and 26-25, with a service error wiping out one and a kill by Rouse dousing the other.

TAMUC fought off another set point with OC up 27-26, but a block by Kelsie Schiefelbein and Rouse made it 28-27 and Plato finally ended the set – and extended the match – with a kill.

Neither team led the fifth set by more than two points before a 3-0 run by TAMUC – fueled by two aces from Aislynn Shore – put the Lions on the verge of the win. Again, the Eagles rallied. Shore's next serve went long and Chavez then served an ace. After an attack error by Reese Fetty, the set again was tied.

A service error on Chavez gave the Lions their third match point, but it also proved to be their final point.

Maddy Rashford had 21 kills for TAMUC while Fetty had 15 and Sydney Anderson added 12. Riley Davidson had 29 digs for the Lions.

Jason Skoch discusses the match: https://youtu.be/6gTDfHqB81w