OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team gave John Brown a strong challenge on Friday night, but the Evangels fell just short in the tightly contested match, dropping a four-set affair (25-21, 19-25, 25-16, 31-29) to the Golden Eagles at the Gaulke Activity Center.

Junior outside hitter Hannah Focker recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs, senior setter Alexa Bass notched 39 assists and 25 digs and junior libero Maegan Plunk finished with 28 digs to lead the Evangels.

After dropping the first four points in the first set, Mid-America Christian (14-9, 12-6 Sooner Athletic Conference) kept within striking distance, never allowing the John Brown (22-7, 13-4 SAC) lead to grow to more than four. The Evangels at one point trimmed the deficit to one at 20-19 on a Dianne Walter kill, but the Golden Eagles finished the set by scoring five of the last seven to come away with the 25-21 set one win.

The two teams traded the lead multiple times early on in the second set, but after JBU extended its advantage to 10-8, Maddie Callicoat and Focker fired up the Evangels attack by combining for six kills during a 7-1 run to give MACU the 14-10 edge midway through the set.

The Golden Eagles rallied back with a 7-1 streak of their own to retake the advantage, but MACU closed out the set by taking 10 of the final 12 rallies for a dominant 25-19 set two victory.

Mid-America Christian fell behind early by a 6-0 margin in the third set, but fought back to make it interesting early by tallying six of the next seven points, closing the gap to 7-6. However, that was the closest the Evangels came to catching John Brown as an 8-1 response by the Golden Eagles extended the JBU lead back out to eight at 15-7. The Golden Eagles eventually pulled away with the 25-16 win in the third set.

The Evangels had their backs against the ropes late in the fourth and final set when John Brown tallied six unanswered to take a 21-18 lead. MACU refused to give up, notching points in the next five rallies on two Kaylie Walker service aces and two Focker kills along with a Callicoat kill to hold a 23-21 edge.

John Brown tallied the next three to set up match point at 24-23, but following an Evangels timeout, the two teams traded set point five times over the next 13 rallies. The Evangels last great chance came following an Elena Hadzhieva kill to give MACU the 29-28 edge, however, JBU closed out strong by tallying points in the final three rallies to hold on for the 31-29 set four win.

Callicoat reached double-figures in kills with 13 while Hadzhieva added 11 off the Evangels bench. Faith Foutch recorded another four total block performance at the net while Focker added four aces from the service line.

Mid-America Christian will face another tough SAC opponent in its next home match as the Evangels will take on Texas Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8 before closing out with a Senior Day match against Southwestern Assemblies of God at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9.