Women's Volleyball 11/12/2020 3:27:00 PM Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

Volleyball Prepared For Final Home Game of 2020 Against SAGU

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team is preparing for its final test before the NCCAA National Championships next week as the Evangels will host Sooner Athletic Conference rival Southwestern Assemblies of God for a 6 p.m. match at the Gaulke Activity Center on Friday.

LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (9-3) will be looking to bounce back from its first loss in a three-set sweep this season as the Evangels dropped a 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 match at Oklahoma Panhandle State (4-1) on Nov. 6.

The Evangels struggled both in the attack and the defense, hitting for its second-lowest attack percentage of the season (.060) while giving up a season-high .272 attack percentage to the Aggies.

While senior outside hitter Hanna Foecker earned Sooner Athletic Conference Attacker of the Week honors for her 14 kills on a .360 attack percentage, the rest of the team struggled against the Aggies strong blocking efforts, recording a -.021 hitting clip.

With the loss, it was the first time the Evangels were defeated in back-to-back matches during the 2020-21 campaign.

SCOUTING THE LADY LIONS
Southwestern Assemblies of God will enter Friday night's contest with a 3-1 record and will be competing in its first match in two weeks. In the Lions' last match on Oct. 30, SAGU had a hard-fought back-and-forth affair with Texas Wesleyan, but was able to pull out a 3-2 (25-22, 17-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-12) victory.

Aeriel Horton leads an overall balanced SAGU attack with a team-high 54 kills, averaging 3.6 kills per set. Horton is one of three Lions averaging at least three kills per set, joined by Ava Myers and Abby Wells, who each have 45 kills at a three kills per set clip.

Despite rotating setters, Riley Burcham will be the featured setter for the Lady Lions, dishing out a team-high 101 assists on a 6.7 assists per set rate. Horton will look to also lead SAGU on the defensive end as the outside hitter has a team-high 68 digs (4.5 digs per set) while Emma Thomkins is the Lions' top defender at the net with 13 total blocks (0.9 blocks per set).

HISTORY WITH THE LADY LIONS
Mid-America Christian will be trying to seek its first win over Southwestern Assemblies of God since 2012 as the Lions have won 17 straight in the series. However, despite the Lions maintaining a long winning streak, the Evangels were competitive in one of their four matchups last season. In that Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal matchup on Nov. 12, 2019, MACU battled back from two sets down to take a pair of hard-fought wins in set three and set four to send the match to a decisive fifth set. However, the Evangels couldn't quite pull out the big road win as SAGU held on to take set five 15-10 to secure the 3-2 win and advance to the SAC Semifinals.

PUTTING THINGS BACK IN ORDER
Mid-America Christian is currently trying to get back on track in preparation for the NCCAA National Championships next week. During MACU's NAIA era record-setting eight-match win streak, the Evangels were dominant, winning 27 of 30 sets and competing in just one match that went to five sets. However, in the last three matches, the Evangels have struggled to find a rhythm, dropping eight of the last 11 sets and going 1-2 during that stretch.

FINDING OFFENSE OUTSIDE OF FOECKER
While Hanna Foecker is putting up record-setting offensive numbers for the Evangels this season, MACU has been challenged to find a consistent offensive attack when passing away from the NCCAA Second Team All-American. The Sudlohn, Germany native has recorded 198 of the team's 523 kills and is the only player on the team averaging more than two kills per set (4.6). Foecker is also one of only two players that is tallying higher than a .150 attack percentage (.240), as freshman middle blocker Allison Porter is lone exception by tallying the third-most kills (81) on a team-best .271 hitting clip.

STAT LEADERS