Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 3 seeded Mid-America Christian volleyball team competed in a pair of tough matches to start out the NCCAA Division I National Championships at the Ericksen Center on Thursday afternoon, dropping a 3-1 match to No. 7 seed Campbellsville (Ky.) before falling 3-1 to sixth-seeded Grace (Ind.).
 

GAME ONE / Mid-America Christian vs. Campbellsville

• SCORE: Campbellsville 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-17, 26-24)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-5)
  • Campbellsville (1-1)

 

• TOP PERFORMERS
  • Hanna Foecker – 13 kills, 8 digs
  • Allison Porter – 8 kills, 8 blocks
  • Ryann Hale – 25 assists, 20 digs
  • Maegan Plunk – 26 digs

 

• MATCH SUMMARY
  • Set One
    • Mid-America Christian struggled out of the gate, as Campbellsville scored the first six points of the opening set.
    • After trailing by as much as eight at 17-9 midway through, the Evangels clawed their way back by scoring five in a row by taking advantage of some Tigers miscues. A Kaylie Walker kill and an assisted block by Maddie Callicoat and Desiree Brewer assisted the run to get MACU to within three.
    • Despite Campbellsville pushing its lead back out to five at 23-18, Mid-America Christian continued to fight its way back, utilizing a 5-1 run to get it to within one at 24-23. However, the Evangels couldn't stop the CU attack out of a timeout as the Tigers secured the 25-23 opening set win on a kill by Taylor Weirich.
  • Set Two
    • The Evangels flipped the script on the Tigers in the second set, opening with five unanswered as Hanna Foecker capped the run with a kill to force Campbellsville into calling an early timeout.
    • CU clipped the MACU lead to as few as two on a number of occasions, the last coming after a Tiana Nihipali attack error made a 12-10 game.
    • With the match still being tight seven rallies later at 16-13, Mid-America Christian recaptured the momentum off a Foecker kill, stringing together five unanswered to extend the advantage to 21-13.
    • The two teams traded blows down the stretch, but it was Maddie Callicoat that finished off the set by putting a kill through the Campbellsville block on game point to draw the match even with a 25-16 set two victory.
  • Set Three
    • MACU was able to take advantage of some more Tigers miscues to start the third set, jumping out to a 5-2 advantage.
    • Campbellsville briefly surged back with three straight to draw the game even before the Evangels swung back by taking four of the next five behind kills by Foecker and Maegan Plunk as well as a Morgan Van Meir service ace to make it a 9-6 MACU edge.
    • CU's Paige Merrick was able to swing the momentum back in the Tigers favor with a kill on the next rally to set up an 11-2 run to put the Evangels down by a 17-11 margin.
    • The Evangels were able to get it back to within three on a kill from Allison Porter and back-to-back kills from Foecker, but Campbellsville wrapped up the set by scoring on eight of the next 11 rallies to seal the 25-17 defeat for MACU.
  • Set Four
    • Mid-America Christian was once again able to get off to a strong start, tallying a 7-1 run with a pair of kills from Faith Foutch to go along with a kill and block from Porter, a Tiana Nihipali kill and a Walker service ace.
    • Despite the Evangels holding a 9-3 lead, CU scrambled back by scoring on seven straight to claim the 11-10 edge.
    • The Evangels pressured the Tigers into committing several attack errors over the next five rallies to push MACU back in-front, 15-11.
    • Campbellsville was able to fight back once again to tie the set up at 19 and again at 23, but a Nihipali kill put game-point in the Evangels' favor at 24-23.
    • However, the Evangels were unable to damper the CU attack as the Tigers scored the final three points to hand MACU a tough 26-24 defeat.

 

• MATCH NOTES
  • While the Evangels were able to outhit Campbellsville by a .150 to .092 margin, the Tigers were able to sustain more of an attack in the match 54 kills on 207 attacks while MACU could only register 42 kills on 160 attacks.
  • Despite suffering a loss, the Evangels were able to put together their best blocking match of the season, recording a season-high 13 blocks.
  • Hanna Foecker once again led the MACU attack with 13 kills to go with eight digs, but could only muster a .130 attack percentage against a persistent Tigers defense.
  • Allison Porter put together one of her best performances in an Evangels uniform, recording a career-best eight blocks to go with eight kills on a .381 attack percentage.

 
GAME TWO / Mid-America Christian vs. Grace

• SCORE: Grace 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-6)
  • Grace (9-8)

 

• TOP PERFORMERS
  • Hanna Foecker – 21 kills, .310 attack percentage, 16 digs, 3 blocks
  • Allison Porter – 4 kills, 3 blocks
  • Ryann Hale – 19 assists, 10 digs
  • Maegan Plunk – 16 digs
  • Kaylie Walker – 5 service aces, 10 digs

 

• MATCH SUMMARY
  • Set One
    • Grace started off the match by scoring seven of the first 11 points and maintained a one to three-point lead up until a Maegan Plunk attack error made it a 13-11 GC edge.
    • Mid-America Christian gained some momentum immediately following the miscue as a Foecker kill started a string of three unanswered to give MACU its first lead of the match at 14-13.
    • Neither team could muster a run over the next eight rallies, but with Grace leading 18-17, the Evangels were able to get some much needed breathing room as back-to-back Kaylie Walker service aces after a Lancers service error followed by another Foecker kill put MACU in-front 21-18 and forcing GC to call a timeout.
    • Grace picked up a kill immediately following the timeout, but MACU would not be denied, scoring four of the final five points, which included three Foecker kills to secure the first set by a score of 25-20.
  • Set Two
    • The two squads battled back and forth through the first 12 rallies with the Evangels holding an early 7-5 edge before the Lancers surged ahead with an 11-1 run.
    • Grace built as large as a nine-point advantage at 21-12 before Mid-America Christian stormed back with eight straight rallies. Foecker ignited the run with a kill and added another later in the run to go with a pair of Desiree Brewer kills and block as well as a Faith Foutch kill to trim the deficit to just one.
    • The two teams traded back-to-back two-point runs as Brewer's kill made it a 23-22 game before the Lancers pulled out the win by scoring the final two points.
  • Set Three
    • The third set was another tug-of-war between the two squads as there were seven ties and four lead changes before Grace strung together five unanswered to take an 11-7 advantage nearly midway through.
    • Mid-America Christian chipped its way back, tallying eight of the next 11 points behind four Foecker kills while Tiana Nihipali and Allison Porter each chipped a kill during the run to give MACU a 15-14 edge.
    • After the Lancers committed a service error two rallies later make it another one-point MACU lead at 16-15, GC utilized a run of four straight to hold a three-point cushion at 19-16 before eventually taking the set, 25-19.
  • Set Four
    • The final set of the match started off much like the previous ones with Mid-America Christian and Grace trading three lead changes and six ties before the Lancers pulled ahead with scores on 10 of the next 11 rallies to make it a 17-8 GC advantage.
    • With its back against the wall, Mid-America Christian retaliated with a run of nine straight points. Following a GC attack error, Foutch got the streak going with a kill followed by two Foecker kills and a Lancers setting error to make it 17-13 heading into a Grace timeout. MACU picked up four more points out of the break with Ryann Hale getting the tying kill to lock the set up at 17-all.
    • It appeared Grace was on the verge of putting the match away after tallying six of the next eight points to take a 23-19 advantage, but the Evangels once again fought back by forcing three Lancers attack errors to go with a service error to lock the set up at 23-all.
    • However, the Evangels made a pair of costly errors in the final two rallies as the Lancers escaped with the 25-23 set four win.

 

• MATCH NOTES
  • Mid-America Christian struggled to sustain a consistent attack away from Hanna Foecker, as the Evangels could only muster 40 kills on a .086 attack percentage against Grace. While Foecker laid down 21 kills on a blistering .310 clip, the rest of the team could only muster 19 kills on a -.048 hitting percentage.
  • During the first set, Foecker made history by recording her 604^th career kill with MACU to surpass Larissa Runyan for the fifth-most kills for an Evangels player since the program joined the NAIA and NCCAA Division I level in 2007. Foecker is currently 62 kills away from surpassing Taryn Walker for fourth on the career list.
  • Kaylie Walker continued to serve at a blistering pace, recording a season-high five aces to give her 17 service aces in the last six matches.

 

NEXT UP

• While the Evangels can no longer advance in the tournament, Mid-America Christian will be looking to play the role of spoiler tomorrow afternoon as MACU will face No. 2 seed Bethel (Ind.) in its final match of pool play. The match is slated for a 2 p.m. start at the Ericksen Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.