POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – In the Mid-America Christian volleyball team's first appearance at the NCCAA National Championships since 2004, the Evangels dropped a pair of tightly contested matches to No. 4 seed Judson (Ill.) 3-1 (17-25, 25-21, 27-25, 27-25) and top-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) in the first day of pool play at College of the Ozarks on Thursday.

In the first match against Judson, freshman right side hitter Maddie Callicoat led the attack with 13 kills on a .440 attack percentage, but Mid-America Christian (14-14) could only muster a .134 attack percentage as a team against the Eagles defense.

The Evangels got off to a strong start after the first set. With the set locked up at 15-all, MACU closed out the set with a 10-2 run to come away with the 25-17 set one victory.

Late in the second set, MACU fought back to make it a one-point game at 21-20 on a Diane Walter kill that fell middle off a Judson blocker's hands, but the Eagles closed out the set by winning four of the next five rallies to tie the match up at one apiece.

With the third set locked up at 20-all, the Evangels were able to gain some momentum off a pair of Eagles miscues on a serve and attack error followed by Callicoat kill on the right side tooled off the Judson block going out of bounds making it a three-point lead for MACU. After JU won the next rally, Elena Hadzhieva gave the Evangels set point with kill off the hands of the Eagles blockers, setting the score at 24-21.

However, the Eagles rallied with three in row to tie the score at 24 before Callicoat tapped an attack down the right sideline for a kill to put set point back in favor of the Evangels. Once again, Judson put together a strong response, notching the next three points to steal set three by a score of 27-25.

The fourth set was a tightly contested battle from beginning to end, but after trailing 20-19, the Evangels rattled off three in a row on kills by Callicoat and Hannah Focker to take a 22-20 lead, prompting the Eagles to call a timeout.

A Judson attack error out of the break extended the MACU advantage to three, but the Eagles stormed back to take the next four points, putting the Evangels' backs against the wall with match point. Mid-America Christian managed to survive a pair of match points on a JU attack error along with a solo block by Faith Foutch to tie the set at 25-all.

The Eagles were able to hold off the Evangels though, taking the final two points of the set to come away with a second consecutive 27-25 win for the 3-1 match victory.

Hadzhieva recorded 11 kills on a .280 attack percentage while Bass finished with 29 assists to go with 14 digs and a pair of service aces. Focker led the Evangles from the service line with a trio of aces to go with nine kills. Maegan Plunk led five Evangels with 10 or more digs with 16 while Foutch recorded a pair of blocks at the net.

In the second match of the day, the Evangels had to face a familiar opponent as MACU took on Sooner Athletic Conference rival Southwestern Assemblies of God for the fourth time this season. Like the previous three matches, it was tightly contested, but the Evangels couldn't quite muster a set away from the Lady Lions.

Callicoat and Focker led the MACU attack with eight kills apiece, but the Evangels once again struggled to get kills down, only mustering a .083 attack percentage against the tough SAGU defense.

Late in the first set after SAGU sprung three in a row to take a 20-17 lead, the Evangels challenged by taking four of the next five rallies, three of which came on blocks by Dianne Walter, Hadzhieva and Callicoat to tie the score at 21-21.

After trading the next two rallies, the Lady Lions rattled off two straight to get some breathing room in creating set point at 24-22. A Focker kill closed the gap to one, but SAGU was able to finish off the set with a Madeleine Hartline kill.

The second set was a back-and-forth tug-of-war for advantage as both teams mounted big runs. With the Evangels leading 21-19 late in the set, the Lady Lions were able to mount the last big run, tallying six of the final seven rallies for the 25-22 set two win.

In the third and final set, Mid-America Christian challenged SAGU, taking a 9-8 lead off back-to-back Bass kills. However, an 8-1 spurt by the Lady Lions put SAGU in control with a six-point advantage. The Evangels tried to fight back, rattling off four of the next five, including kills by Callicoat and Hadzhieva to go with a Kaylie Walker service ace to trim the deficit to 17-14.

However, another 5-0 run by the Lady Lions made it a 22-14 game, putting it out of reach for the Evangels in the 25-17 set three defeat.

Despite MACU's offensive struggles, Plunk put together an outstanding defensive game on the Evangels backline with 27 digs while Walter recorded two of MACU's five blocks.

With five service aces on the day, Focker moved into sixth in the MACU record book for single season aces with 41, just one away from tying Taryn Walker for fifth. Bass also climbed up the single season service ace record book as her two against Judson moved her into a four-way tie for seventh at 39 with Jordan Batley, Hannah Luedtke and Kamryn Schodt.

Plunk moved up to third in the single season digs category, surpassing Camera Broadnax with 489 on the season.

With the Evangels losing both matches on the day along with SAGU and Judson winning both their matches, MACU has been eliminated from contention for one of the four spots in the NCCAA Semifinal.

Mid-America Christian will still have an opportunity to end its 2019 season on a high note as the Evangels will play No. 8 seed Piedmont International in the final game of pool play tomorrow. The match is slated for a noon start at College of the Ozarks.