ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 3 seeded Mid-America Christian volleyball team closed out pool play with a tough 3-0 defeat to second-seeded Bethel (Ind.) in its final match at the NCCAA National Championships inside the Ericksen Center on Friday afternoon.
 

SCORE

• Bethel 3, Mid-America Christian 0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-15)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-7)
  • Bethel (18-4)

 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Hanna Foecker – 6 kills, 4 digs
• Kaylie Walker – 3 kills, 2 service aces, 5 digs
• Ryann Hale – 12 assists, 5 digs, 1 service ace
• Maegan Plunk – 12 digs, 2 service aces

 
MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Bethel managed to jump out to a 5-1 advantage before Mid-America Christian battled back to cut the deficit to 8-7, featuring kills from Hanna Foecker and Tiana Nihipali as well as a service ace each from Kaylie Walker and Maegan Plunk.
  • The Pilots pulled away by stringing together an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 19-9. The Evangels were unable to overcome the deficit as Bethel handed MACU a 25-16 defeat.
• Set Two
  • MACU was able to get off to a good start, scoring four of the first six points off of kills from Desiree Brewer, Foecker and Kaylie Walker to go with a BU attack error.
  • The Pilots were quickly able to recapture the momentum, winning 12 of the next 13 rallies to take a 14-5 lead midway through the set.
  • The Evangels tried to cut into with a string of three straight off a Bethel service error to go with a Maddie Callicoat kill and a Brewer block to bring the score to 14-8, but that would be the closest MACU could cut into the deficit as the Pilots cruised to a 25-13 set two win.
• Set Three
  • After giving up the first two points of the set, Mid-America Christian rattled off three straight off of a Foecker kill, an assisted block between Brewer and Foecker as well as a BU attack error to make it a 3-2 MACU edge.
  • Bethel took back control with a six unanswered run to make it an 8-3 game.
  • The Evangels could not slow down the aggressive Pilots attack and blocking as Bethel pulled away with the 25-15 set three win.

 
MATCH NOTES

• Facing the best blocking team in the NAIA and NCCAA, Mid-America Christian could only muster 24 kills on a -.064 attack percentage while the Pilots ended the match with 38 kills on a .261 clip. It was only the second time in the last two seasons that the Evangels hit for a negative percentage since swatting -.096 at No. 24 Oklahoma City on Sept. 14, 2019.
• As a team, Bethel recorded 10 team blocks while the Evangels could only notch three against the Pilots.
• BU contained senior outside hitter Hanna Foecker, who finished a season-low six kills.
• Mid-America Christian was able to perform well from the service line, putting down five aces while committing a season-low three errors.

 
NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will return to action in February as the Evangels will tentatively return to play on Wednesday, Feb. 17 against Texas College. The match is slated for a 6 p.m. start at the Gaulke Activity Center.