OKLAHOMA CITY – In its return home in nearly a month, the Mid-America Christian volleyball team won its fifth straight match as the Evangels topped Arlington Baptist 3-1 on Thursday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Arlington Baptist 1 (25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-11)
  • Mid-America Christian (5-1)
  • Arlington Baptist (1-6)

 
STAT LEADERS

• Hanna Foecker – 23 kills, 15 digs
• Ryann Hale – 29 assists, 5 service aces
• Maegan Plunk – 20 digs
• Maddie Callicoat – 13 kills, .357 attack percentage, 3 blocks
• Allison Porter, 11 kills, .385 attack percentage, 3 blocks

 
MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Neither side could grab more than a two-point lead until Mid-America Christian strung together five unanswered behind three Ryann Hale service aces and a pair of kills by Maddie Callicoat and Allison Porter to make it a 19-15 MACU lead.
  • Arlington Baptist closed it to 21-19 before kills by Callicoat and Hanna Foecker as well as a Morgan Van Meir service ace brought it to set point, prompting the Lady Patriots to call a timeout.
  • ABU rattled off a pair of points out of the break before Foecker blasted a kill down the middle to give the Evangels the 25-21 win.
• Set Two
  • MACU jumped out to an early lead and steadily built it up to six off back-to-back kills by Callicoat and Desiree Brewer to bring the score to 17-11.
  • Arlington Baptist closed the gap to three thanks to three unanswered to make it an 18-15 game. A couple rallies later, MACU extended its lead to eight by rattling off five unanswered points, featuring two more Porter kills and two Hale service aces.
  • The Lady Patriots again refused to go down without a fight, scoring three straight before Kaylie Walker poked it over the ABU block for a kill to end the threat at 25-19.
• Set Three
  • With the set tied at 5-all, Arlington Baptist gained the momentum by rattling off scores on 10 straight rallies to bring the score to 15-5.
  • Mid-America Christian clawed its way back thanks to a 5-0 run on kills by Callicoat, Foecker, Porter and Tiana Nihipali and an assisted block by Callicoat and Porter to make it an 18-15 ballgame.
  • After Arlington Baptist stretched its lead back to six, the Evangels retaliated by scoring on seven of the next eight rallies to tie the score at 22-all. However, the Patriots closed out the set by scoring three of the final four points to hand MACU a 25-23 defeat.
• Set Four
  • The Evangels didn't pull their punches in the fourth set, scoring 11 of the first 14 points.
  • ABU fought back to shrink the MACU advantage to 13-9, but four more MACU kills and two Brewer service aces extended the Evangels' edge out to 10 at 19-9.
  • Mid-America Christian wrapped up the match by scoring on six of the final seven rallies, capped off on Callicoat's match-point kill to seal a 25-11 victory.

 
MATCH NOTABLES

• Foecker's 23 kills tied her season-high while also setting her career-high in a four-set match. She was just one away from tying Jessica Chestnut's NAIA era four-set kills record of 24 notched all the way back on Oct. 30, 2007.
• With five service aces, Hale tallied the second-most in a single match in her three-year career while taking the team lead with 12. Hale is now only the eighth Evangels player within its 13-year run in the NAIA to eclipse 70 career aces mark with 73.
• Despite the Evangels giving up 10.66 kills per set on a .212 attack percentage through the first three, MACU dominated the fourth by allowing the Lady Patriots just four kills on a -.160 attack percentage in the final set.
• Mid-America Christian put down a season-high 14 service aces, its highest mark since tallying 15 against Science & Arts back on Sept. 27, 2019.

 
NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will be back at home on Saturday, Oct. 10 as the Evangels will host Southwestern Christian and Central Christian in a tri-match. The Evangels will open the meet against the Eagles at 1 p.m. before returning to the floor at 5 p.m. to take on the Tigers.