GOODWELL, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team faced a tough challenge from Oklahoma Panhandle State, but the Evangels were able to make a couple of late rallies to come away with a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 28-26, 25-23) victory over the Aggies to get off to their first 2-0 start to Sooner Athletic Conference play in program history on Saturday.

Junior outside hitter Hannah Focker led an aggressive Evangels attack with 22 of the team's 59 kills while freshman right side hitter Maddie Callicoat laid down a career-high 17 kills.

In the opening set, Mid-America Christian (4-3, 2-0 SAC) was able to grasp the early advantage, leading by as much as four before OPSU rallied back to tie the set at 15-all.

After trading points, MACU was able to create some breathing room with a 4-0 run that featured a pair of kills from Elena Hadzhieva and Callicoat to go with an Alexa Bass solo block to make it 20-16. The Evangels managed to hold off the Aggies to come away with the 25-20 win in the set.

Panhandle State held all of the momentum in the second set as the Evangels could never grab the lead from the Aggies. The Evangels did manage to close the gap to as little as one at 7-6 after trailing 5-1 to start.

However, OPSU pulled away to extend its lead to as much as seven at 22-15. Despite having its backs against the wall in the set, MACU fought back with a 7-2 run to shrink the Aggies lead down to 24-22, but Panhandle State managed to pull out the 25-22 win.

The third set was a back-and-forth affair throughout and the Evangels were on the ropes when a late MACU attack error created set point for the Aggies at 25-24. However, Focker was able to come up with a clutch kill to draw the set even.

Following an OPSU and MACU attack errors to set the score of at 26-all, the Evangels came up with two of the biggest plays in the set with a Focker kill and a Bass service ace to pull ahead in the match 2-1 with the 28-26 set three victory.

Much like the opening set, Mid-America Christian was able to grab the early momentum and never trailed, but the Aggies wouldn't go down without a fight. The Evangels put themselves in a strong position when OPSU committed a service error to create match point at 24-20.

However, the Aggies managed to make things interesting by rattling off three unanswered to close the gap to 24-23, prompting MACU head coach Kevin Fitzgibbon to call a timeout. Following the break, the Evangels put the game away on a vicious kill by Hadzhieva up the middle to end the match.

Hadzhieva finished the match with 12 kills on a .320 attack percentage while Ryann Hale and Bass effectively operated the attack with each recording 25 and 24 assists. On the defensive backline, Maegan Plunk turned in a team-high 23 digs.

Mid-America Christian will look to stay unbeaten in SAC play next week as the Evangels will return to Oklahoma City for their home opener. MACU will host Southwestern Christian on Tuesday night with the match starting at 7 p.m.