WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team refused to be swept by No. 4 seed Southwestern Assemblies of God a third time as the Evangels battled the Lady Lions to five sets before ultimately falling 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 28-30, 15-10) in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
Fifth-seeded Mid-America Christian (14-11) had to fight back from two sets down, putting together a strong 25-21 set three win before grinding out a 30-28 victory in the fourth set. However, the Evangels couldn't slow down the Lady Lions who caught fire at just the right time in the decisive final set.
Junior outside hitter Hannah Focker recorded a team-high 16 kills, Elena Hadzhieva finished with 14 and Dianne Walter had one of her strongest matches at the net with 12 kills on a .458 attack percentage while also turning a season-high five total blocks.
Senior setter Alexa Bass notched her third career 40-plus assist match of her career with 45 to go with 21 digs while Maegan Plunk finished the match with 30 digs.
In the opening set, SAGU jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and held as much as a five-point advantage at 16-11 before the Evangels put together a rally. MACU strung together three in a row to trim the lead to two before the Lady Lions countered with two points of their own to push the edge back out to four at 18-14.
A Walter kill fired up the Evangels as Bass followed with a service ace, while back-to-back kills by Hadzhieva tied things up. MACU capped off a 5-0 run on a Walter and Maddie Callicoat assisted block to grab a 19-18 lead. Following a Callicoat attack error, the Evangels pushed their advantage to two at 21-19.
SAGU rattled off three in a row to retake a 22-21 lead, but the Evangels swung back with kills by Focker and Faith Foutch to hold a 23-22 edge late. However, the Lady Lions ended the set by taking the next three rallies for the 25-23 set one win.
After jumping out to an early 4-3 lead in the second set, Mid-America Christian found itself in trouble when SAGU rattled off eight straight rallies to take its largest lead at 11-4. The Lady Lions eventually built up a nine-point edge at 16-7, but the Evangels refused to give in.
The Evangels won seven of the next eight rallies to close the gap to 19-16. The Lady Lions were able to push their advantage back out to five at set point, but MACU won three straight to close the gap to 24-22. SAGU was able to thwart the MACU rally by recording the fourth set point and come away with the 25-22 set two victory.
The third set was tightly contested through the first 22 rallies as the lead changed sides four times and a Callicoat attack error notched the seventh tie of the set at 11-all. However, the Evangels were able to recover following a SAGU service error as a Focker kill along with a Focker and Foutch assisted block started a 5-1 run to give the Evangels their largest lead of the match at 16-12.
SAGU clawed its way back to make it a one-point set at 19-18 and after the Evangels stretched the lead back to four, before the Lady Lions chipped away with back-to-back points to bring the score to 23-21 late. MACU finished strong following a SAGU setting error as Bass won the set with a strong kill down the right side to give MACU its first set win over the Lady Lions since 2016.
The fourth set provided high drama when a SAGU kill created match point at 24-23, but the Evangels came through with a pair of clutch kills by Hadzheiva and Bass to swing set point in their favor. After a two-point swing moved match point back to SAGU, the Evangels had to survive two more match points before closing out the set with three straight. A Foutch kill finished off the fourth to send the match to a decisive fifth-set.
MACU was able to grab a 4-3 edge early, but Southwestern turned the tide in their favor, recording points in four straight rallies before trading points to send the Lady Lions into the side change with the 8-5 edge.
Following the side change, a four-point run by SAGU put the Evangels against the ropes as the closest MACU could cut into the lead was four before the Lady Lions finished with the 15-10 win.
With the conclusion of SAC Tournament play for the Evangels, MACU will now prepare for NCCAA Tournament competition. The Evangels will now await to find out when and where they will compete in postseason play.
