LANGSTON, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team completed its most successful first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play in program history, sweeping Langston at the C.F. Gayles Arena on Saturday to improve to 7-3 against league competition.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Langston 0 (25-15, 25-13, 27-25)
  • Mid-America Christian (16-6, 7-3 SAC)
  • Langston (6-11, 2-8 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Maddie Callicoat – JR – RS
  • 10 Kills, .409 ATK%
• Allison Porter – SO – MB
  • 4 Kills, .375 ATK%, 3 Blocks
• Lena Stockhammer – SO - S
  • 28 Assists, 6 Digs, 3 Aces, 3 Blocks, 3 Kills, .500 ATK%
•  Maegan Plunk – SR – L
  • 12 Digs, 2 Assists, 1 Ace

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Langston jumped out to an early 5-3 lead before Mid-America Christian gained the momentum off a Lena Stockhammer kill, scoring nine of the next 12 points, capped off on a Cloie Mitchell kill to grab a 12-8 advantage.
  • The Evangels slowly chipped their lead out to six on back-to-back points from an Allison Porter kill and a Mitchell block to bring it 19-13 before the Lions swung back with two in a row off of an Ashlyn Stiger kill and a Porter attack error.
  • A kill from Mitchell on the ensuing rally ignited the Evangels, ending the set with a six-unanswered run to claim a 25-15 victory.
• Set Two
  • MACU got off to a stellar start, opening the set by taking eight of the first 11 rallies. During the run, the Evangels got a pair of kills from Hanna Foecker and Maddie Callicoat, as well as two aces from Stockhammer and a Porter kill.
  • The Lions managed to pull it back to within three on a pair of occasions at 8-5 and 10-7, but the Evangels once again put together a 6-2 surge to push the edge back out to 16-9.
  • Langston managed to hold it within a six-point gap over the next seven rallies before Mid-America Christian closed out with a string of six straight. During the final run, the Evangels got a pair of service aces off the serve of Faith Foutch, including getting a set-point ace to seal the 25-13 win.
• Set Three
  • Despite splitting the first 10 rallies, Langston went on a powerful run, scoring seven straight points to grab a 12-5 lead midway through the set.
  • While the Lions maintained a seven-point cushion through the next six rallies, Mid-America Christian strung together three in a row to start a 6-2 run, as a Foecker kill brought it to just a three-point deficit at 17-14.
  • Langston notched three of the next five before the Evangels went on a strong run, tallying six of the next seven scores as back-to-back LU attack error gave MACU a late 22-21 edge.
  • After being held in-check for most of the match, Foecker was able to force two match points on two late kills at 24-23 and 25-24, but Langston was able to survive each one with a pair of kills in response from Kiyah Hedge.
  • A kill by Callicoat set up a third match point, but this time the Evangels were able to finish off the Lions as Callicoat and Porter teamed up at the net to reject the Brieanna Owens attack to come away with the 27-25 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the match with 39 kills on a .232 attack percentage while holding Langston to 33 kills on an .073 clip.
• While the match featured two of the top attackers in the NAIA in Hanna Foecker and Antonese Tatum, both teams were able to hold the stars in-check. Foecker finished the match with 13 kills on a .125 attack percentage while Tatum was limited to just 11 kills on a .118 hitter's clip.
• The Evangels got a big time performance from their junior right side hitter in Maddie Callicoat, who turned in 10 kills on a blistering .409 attack percentage and came up with a crucial assisted block on match point.
• Sophomore setter Lena Stockhammer also had a big match for MACU. Outside of recording 28 assists, Stockhammer turned in three kills on a .500 attack percentage, came up with three service aces and blocked three attacks at the net to go with six digs in defense.
• Maegan Plunk led the backline with 12 digs while Allison Porter finished the match with three blocks at the net, bringing her season total to 81 on the year.
• By finishing the first half of conference play with a 7-3 record, the Evangels are off to their best start in conference play since joining the league in 2007. MACU's previous best start came in 2019, when MACU went 6-4 through the first 10 before eventually ending the campaign with a 12-8 conference mark to finish fifth in the standings.
• MACU improved to 9-3 against Langston in the NAIA era and have won eight matches in a row since the 2016 season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will continue its four-match road stand next week as the Evangels will head to Chickasha, Okla. on Wednesday, Oct. 6 for a 6 p.m. matchup with Science & Arts.