OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team will close out its 2019 regular season with a pair of crucial conference matchups. The Evangels will go up against Texas Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on Friday night, hosting a CAGS Family Night event before taking on Southwestern Assemblies of God in the season finale at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Mid-America Christian will be honoring its three graduating seniors: Alexa Bass, Elena Hadzhieva and Dianne Walter at noon before the teams take the court for warm-ups before Saturday's game.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (14-9, 12-6 Sooner Athletic Conference) gave John Brown (23-7, 14-4 SAC) a strong challenge on Saturday, but ultimately fell in four sets (25-21, 19-25, 25-16, 31-29). The Evangels nearly rallied to send the match to a decisive fifth-set, getting to set point three times and survived match point three times before the Golden Eagles closed out the fourth set with a 3-0 run.
In the rally-filled match, junior libero Maegan Plunk finished with a MACU four-set NAIA era record for digs with 30 while senior setter Alexa Bass dished out 39 assists and totaled a career-best 25 digs. Hannah Focker led the attack and was solid on defense with 16 kills and 16 digs.
SCOUTING THE LADY RAMS
Texas Wesleyan enters Friday night's match sitting second in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 15-3 record and possess a 20-7 overall record. The Lady Rams are coming off a pair of three-set sweeps at home last week with a 25-13, 25-11, 25-16 victory on Nov. 2 against Oklahoma Panhandle State and followed it up with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-21 win over Wayland Baptist on Nov. 3.
TWU is the second-best attacking team in the SAC with a .215 hitting percentage, led by senior middle blocker Chastiny Brown with 253 kills on a .300 attack percentage. The squad's kills leader on the season is freshman outside hitter Arianna Alvarado with 268 kills at a .221 clip.
The Lady Rams feature a pair of setters in Brenda Pargas and Morgan Burns, with Pargas leading the way with 547 assists at a 6.0 assist per set rate. Defensively, Madison Lopez patrols the backline with the third-most digs in the SAC at 419, averaging 4.8 digs per set while Brown is the Lady Rams best net presence with 84 total blocks.
HISTORY WITH THE LADY RAMS
Mid-America Christian will be seeking its first win over Texas Wesleyan since the beginning of the NAIA era, falling in 16 straight matches since the 2005 season. The last time the two teams met in Fort Worth, Texas earlier this season, the Lady Rams won in straight sets 25-17, 25-19, 25-14.
SCOUTING THE LADY LIONS
Southwestern Assemblies of God holds a slight edge over the Evangels for fourth in the SAC standings, possessing a 13-5 record in conference play and a 20-8 mark overall. The Lady Lions were challenged by Wayland Baptist last week at home become pulling out a 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 25-15) victory on Nov. 1. SAGU was only challenged in one set the following day against Oklahoma Panhandle State, but won in straight sets, 25-11, 27-25, 25-16.
The Lady Lions have a pair of attackers with more than 300 kills on the season, led by freshman outside hitter Ava Myers with 338 kills on a .244 attack percentage, averaging 3.4 kills per set. Sophomore outside hitter Alexis Mealer has also produced well for SAGU, recording 323 kills on a .280 attack percentage.
SAGU features one of the top setters in the Sooner Athletic Conference in senior Sophia Ivy, leading the conference with 1080 assists at a 10.7 assist per set clip. Defensively, junior libero Nikki Almaguer leads is second in the conference 428 digs at a 4.2 digs per set rate while senior middle blocker Madeleine Hartline ranks third in the league with 87 digs.
HISTORY WITH THE LADY LIONS
Despite falling in three sets the last time they played on Oct. 4 in Waxahachie, Texas, the Evangels contended with the Lady Lions in a 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 match. SAGU currently holds a 14 match win streak over the Evangels with MACU's last win coming during the 2012 season. SAGU holds a 31-5 edge in the series since the 2003 campaign.
SENIOR SENDOFF
Mid-America Christian would like nothing better than send its three graduating seniors off with a win over SAGU. Setter Alexa Bass, outside hitter Elena Hadzhieva and middle blocker Dianne Walter will be competing in their final regular season home game in the Gaulke Activity Center.
Entering the weekend, Bass ranks third in the NAIA era in career assists with 1245 and is tied for fourth in career service aces with 86. Last season, the Argyle, Texas product recorded the second-most service aces in a single season in MACU with 52 and set the seventh-most assists in a single match with 48 in a 3-2 victory over Southwestern Christian.
Hadzhieva is putting together her best season in an Evangels uniform, ranking second on the team with 196 kills at 2.7 kills per set. The Razlog, Bulgaria native recorded a career-high 15 kills against Huston-Tillotson on Aug. 24.
In her third and final season, Walter will close out her Evangels career as the ninth-best blocker during the program's NAIA era with 136 career total blocks. The Vancouver, Wash. native has been putting together her best season from the service line with 28 aces on the year, just seven away from breaking into the program's single season top 10 list.
TRENDING UP
Mid-America Christian has already garnered its best conference winning percentage since joining the Sooner Athletic Conference in 2007 and will be no worse than the No. 5 seed in the SAC Tournament next week. However, the Evangels still have a chance at hosting their first ever SAC Tournament match if they can climb into the top four. To do so, the Evangels would need to get a win in both matches and a SAGU loss at Science & Arts. Regardless of how the matches play out this weekend, the 2019 season will be the first year in program history where MACU will finish with a winning record in conference play.
