OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team returns home for the first time in three weeks as the Evangels will host a 3 p.m. match on Halloween at the Gaulke Activity Center against Sooner Athletic Conference rival Wayland Baptist.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (9-1) faced a strong challenge from Science & Arts in a road matchup on Oct. 22, but the Evangels were able to hold off a ferocious Drovers rally, pulling away late for the five-set victory (25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 20-25, 15-11).
The Evangels got a stellar performance from redshirt freshman middle blocker Allison Porter, who recorded 14 kills on a .480 attack percentage to go with a career-high six total blocks and six digs on the defensive end. Senior outside hitter Hanna Foecker also turned in a double-double with 15 kills to go with 12 digs and notched a career-high six total blocks.
Defensively, senior libero Maegan Plunk finished with 28 digs while redshirt junior setter Ryann Hale turned in a double-double with a team-high 24 assists and 10 digs to go with three service aces.
With the match tied up at 10 in the decisive fifth set, Porter came up with some pivotal plays for MACU. Following a USAO attack error, Porter notched a crucial kill on the ensuing rally and followed it with an assisted block with Foecker to give the Evangels some breathing room at 13-10. After Maddie Callicoat recorded a kill to bring it to match point and USAO brought the lead back down to three with a kill of its own, Porter tapped the match-winning kill over the middle of the net to seal MACU's ninth straight victory.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Wayland Baptist is off to a tough start to the 2020-21 season as the Pioneers hold an 0-3 record heading into their Friday night match at Central Christian. In its last match, WBU was swept in three-sets at home to Texas Wesleyan on Oct. 23, falling 25-12, 25-22, 25-22 to the Lady Rams.
Senior Amber Daniel has led the balanced Pioneers attack, recording 30 kills on a .173 attack percentage while averaging 3.0 kills per set. All-SAC First Team honoree Kellie Kozak has also amassed 28 kills on a .256 attack percentage, averaging 2.8 per set.
Senior setter Lucie Mahelova will guide the WBU passing attack with a team-high 61 assists on an 8.7 per set average. On defense, junior Tevia Bell leads the squad with 47 digs, averaging 4.7 per set while freshman middle blocker Jayla Schultz has a team-high eight blocks on a 0.8 per set clip.
HISTORY WITH THE PIONEERS
Last season, Mid-America Christian snapped a 27-match losing streak to Wayland Baptist, earning the program's first ever victory over the Pioneers in a three-set sweep in Plainview, Texas on Sept. 6, 2019. In the 25-21, 25-19, 25-17 win, Hanna Foecker led the way with 16 kills on a .381 attack percentage while senior setter Alexa Bass finished just a dig shy of a triple-double with 27 assists, 10 kills and nine digs. Maegan Plunk finished with a team-best 18 digs on defensive end to go with seven assists.
When the two teams met up in the Gaulke Activity Center on Oct. 14, 2019, the Evangels were even more dominant in another three-set sweep, winning 25-20, 25-11, 25-17. Foecker set the program's three-set kills record with 21 on a .500 attack percentage while Bass turned in 33 assists and Plunk recorded another 18 digs in the defense.
GETTING BACK TO BASICS
Mid-America Christian will be looking to make some corrections heading into their match with the Pioneers. In the win at USAO, the Evangels hit for a .076 attack percentage, their second-lowest of the season only behind the loss to Oklahoma Wesleyan to open the year. The Evangels also committed 11 service errors, their second-highest total in a single match this season. MACU uncharacteristically struggled on serve receive as well, tallying a season-high 10 receive errors. The previous high for MACU was six against Central Christian back on Oct. 10. A matchup with Wayland Baptist might be the test the Evangels need as they are preparing to close out the 2020 portion of the season. Mid-America Christian will face a pair of tough challenges in the month of November as they will play at Oklahoma Panhandle State (4-1) on Nov. 6 before returning home for Senior Night against Southwestern Assemblies of God (2-1) on Nov. 13.
CHAMPIONSHIP RESUME
With a 9-1 overall record, the Evangels will be looking to build their resume toward another potential appearance at the NCCAA National Championships, hosted by the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minnesota from Nov. 19-21. The NCCAA officially released its Division I Power Ratings earlier in the week as Mid-America Christian is currently the third-rated team in the NCCAA with a score of 5.213, sitting only behind Northwestern (Minn.) at 5.892 and Bethel (Ind.) at 5.580. MACU will be hoping it will be one of the eight teams that will compete in the two pools at the national meet. After advancing to the program's first ever Division I National Championship last year and its first appearance at an NCCAA national since 2004, not only are the Evangels trying to get back to championship event, but improve upon the result after going 1-2 during pool play in 2019.
