LANGSTON, Okla. – For the first time in program history, the Mid-America Christian volleyball team earned its 10th Sooner Athletic Conference victory Thursday night with a three-set sweep (25-14, 25-23, 25-18) at Langston.
Entering the match, Mid-America Christian (12-8, 10-5 Sooner Athletic Conference) had never won 10 conference matches as their previous best record in conference play came during last season when the Evangels went 8-12 against SAC competition.
Coming off a career outing at Southwestern Christian, junior outside hitter Hannah Focker once again led the MACU charge with 15 kills on a .414 attack percentage while Elena Hadzhieva tallied 10 of the Evangels' 54 points on nine kills and a solo block.
The MACU defense frustrated Langston (6-21, 3-13 SAC) throughout the match, limiting the Lady Lions to a .027 attack percentage, the second-lowest clip the Evangels have held an opponent to all season.
The Evangels got off to a strong start in the opening set as MACU utilized a 5-1 run initiated by a Focker kill and followed by two more Maddie Callicoat kills and a Dianne Walter block to take a six-point lead at 11-5.
Langston clawed its way back with five unanswered to trim the Evangels lead to one, but MACU answered right back with 10-1 run. Following a Langston attack error, two Alexa Bass service aces and two Hadzhieva kills fueled the streak that was capped off on a Kaylie Walker service ace.
Mid-America Christian scored four of the final seven points of the set as Hadzhieva nailed down two more kills, Dianne Walter's kill set up game point and Focker slammed down the set point kill to wrap up a strong 25-14 set one victory.
Langston gave the Evangels a tougher fight in the second set, tallying three of the first four points and held a three-point edge until a Callicoat attack error set the score at 8-5. A Faith Foutch kill fired up a string of four unanswered for MACU as another Bass service ace and a pair of LU attack errors gave MACU the 9-8 edge.
The Lady Lions kept within striking distance before back-to-back points by LU's Jada Roland and Serena Torres gave Langston the lead back at 12-11. However, the Evangels swung the momentum back in their favor with four straight of their own with back-to-back Focker kills followed by back-to-back blocks at the net, setting the MACU advantage to 15-12.
Langston kept the game close by recording three of the next four, but the Evangels pushed the lead out to four on a Callicoat kill and a Bass block to extend the MACU lead to 19-15. Howver, the Lady Lions continued to fight, rattling off a 7-2 run to take back a 22-21 edge late in the set.
An LU service error and a Maegan Plunk ace followed by a Jada Murray kill locked the score up at 23-all, but the Evangels were able to take advantage of a couple of Langston attack errors come away with a tightly contested 25-23 set two win.
Mid-America Christian came out on-fire in the third set as two Focker and Foutch kills along with a Walter kill gave the Evangels the early 6-2 edge. The Lady Lions stormed their way back by taking six of the next eight to lock the set up at 8-all, but Callicoat quickly thwarted the LU rally with three straight kills during a 6-1 run to push the Evangels lead to five.
Langston worked its way back, closing the gap to 15-13 before MACU once again strung together a huge run, scoring points in seven of the next eight rallies to take its largest lead of the set at 22-14. Focker and Walter were the catalysts of the run as each came away with two kills.
The Evangels held off Langston over the final eight rallies as the Lady Lions could not climb closer than six in MACU's 25-18 set three win.
Bass turned in a double-double for MACU with 28 assists to go with a team-high 12 digs and three service aces while Walter recorded two solo block and two assisted blocks for a team-high four total blocks in the match.
Mid-America Christian will look to continue building on its historic season as the Evangels will head to McPherson, Kan. tomorrow night for a 5 p.m. match at Central Christian.
