OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off the program's most successful season since joining the Sooner Athletic Conference, the Mid-America Christian volleyball team will look to build upon that success after the program was picked to finish sixth in the 2020-21 Sooner Athletic Conference Preseason Poll.

Voted upon by the league's 11 volleyball head coaches, the Evangels received a total of 59 votes, finishing 21 votes ahead of Oklahoma Panhandle State in seventh and just three votes back of Wayland Baptist for fifth in the conference poll.

Oklahoma City was picked to repeat as the Sooner Athletic Conference champs with 100 votes, receiving every first place vote from the league's head coaches. Texas Wesleyan was picked to finish second with 87 votes as well as OCU's first place vote while John Brown came in third with 82 votes and Southwestern Assemblies of God came in fourth with 75.

Rounding out the poll was Southwestern Christian in eighth with 32 votes, Science & Arts immediately behind with 27 votes, Central Christian with 22 and Langston with 21 votes.

By receiving the sixth-most votes, the Evangels matched their highest placement ever in the SAC poll after being picked to finish seventh in last year's preseason poll. The last time MACU was picked to finish sixth in the league standings was in 2016.

Last year, Mid-America Christian notched just its second winning season since becoming an NAIA institution in 2007 with a 15-14 overall record. By going 12-8 in league play, not only did the Evangels record its first winning record against SAC teams, but also notched its highest ever finish in the standings with a fifth-place finish.

The Evangels qualified for their first ever NCCAA National Championship Tournament at the Division I level, qualifying for the NCCAA nationals for the first time since 2004 and by defeating Piedmont International 3-0 on Dec. 6, recorded its first win at the national meet since knocking off Johnson Bible College (Tenn.) 3-1 on Nov. 7, 2003.

Mid-America Christian will be looking for its first NCCAA National Championship in 20 years, as MACU won six matches and came away with the 2001 NCCAA National Championship after topping Clearwater Christian College (Fla.) in five sets.

The 2020-21 Evangels squad brings back a strong core of returners, headlined by NCCAA Second Team All-American Hanna Foecker. Last season, Foecker recorded the program's NAIA era record for kills per set (3.95) while her 371 kills was the third-most recorded during a single season. The Sudlohn, Germany product also notched the third-most service aces in a single season, tallying 48 as her 0.51 aces per set tied Jordan Batley for the second-highest rate in the same time frame.

During her highly successful 2019 campaign, Foecker tied Christiane Smith's NAIA era single match kills record with 27 in her first match with the Evangels against Red River Athletic Conference Champion Huston-Tillotson before eclipsing it with 30 kills in a 3-2 victory at Southwestern Christian on Oct. 19.

In the backcourt, senior libero Maegan Plunk will look to lead the defense after earning All-SAC Second Team honors a season ago. Last year, Plunk closed out the campaign with 516 digs, which was the third-most in a single season during the NAIA era while her 5.16 digs per set eclipsed Camera Broadnax for the highest digs per set rate.

Plunk recorded 30 or more kills in four matches during the 2019 season, which included a career-best 36 digs against Huston-Tillotson on Aug. 24. In a hard-fought match against John Brown on Nov. 1, the Rowlett, Texas product tied Broadnax's four-set match digs record with 30 against the Golden Eagles, and tied Shelbi Johnson's second-best three-set match records of 27 twice against SAGU and Piedmont International in back-to-back matches at the NCCAA National Championships.

While the Evangels did graduate All-SAC setter Alexa Bass earlier this year, junior setter Morgan Van Meir will look to build upon her solid freshman season. After missing nearly the entire 2019 season, Van Meir was a solid contributor during the 2018 campaign, finishing second on the team with 254 assists (2.4 apg) to go with 172 digs.

Mid-America Christian also brings back a wellspring of experience with its returning class, including junior defensive specialist Kaylie Walker, junior setter Ryann Hale, sophomore utility player Faith Foutch and sophomore right side hitter Maddie Callicoat.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Evangels will officially compete in Sooner Athletic Conference play during the spring as the Evangels will play a 10-match round-robin schedule with dates and times of both the conference games and conference tournament still to be determined.

However, Mid-America Christian will open its non-conference schedule this weekend as the Evangels will be hosting Oklahoma Wesleyan and SAC rival Science & Arts in a tri-match on Saturday. MACU will open the meet against Oklahoma Wesleyan at 11 a.m. before returning to the court at 3 p.m. to wrap up against the Drovers.

2020-21 Sooner Athletic Conference - Preseason Volleyball Poll