POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team won its first ever NCCAA Division I Central Region Championship on Thursday night as the Evangels cruised to a three-set sweep over the host school, College of the Ozarks.
MACU dominated in all facets as senior outside hitter
Hanna Foecker put up a record-breaking performance by surpassing her own three-set kills record with 25 on a .478 attack percentage.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, College of the Ozarks 0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-11)
- Mid-America Christian (24-10)
- College of the Ozarks (13-10)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- The two teams were dead even through the first eight rallies as a Brooklyn Crawford kill allowed Ozarks to tie it up at four in the early going.
- After a Morgan Austin service error, Mid-America Christian surged out in-front on an 11-3 run to claim a 15-7 lead midway through the set. During the run, MACU got a pair of kills from Hanna Foecker and a kill apiece from Maddie Callicoat and Cloie Mitchell along with aces from Maegan Plunk and Kaylie Walker.
- Maintaining a seven-point cushion, MACU utilized a late five-point surge as a Mitchell kill and a pair of CofO attack errors followed by kills from Lena Stockhammer and Foecker brought it to a 23-11 advantage.
- Ozarks scored three of the next four before a Bailey Chamberlain attack error on the second set-point gave MACU the 25-14 victory.
- Set Two
- The Bobcats scored three of the first five before a Vanessa Moreira kill ignited another dominant MACU 11-3 run. Mitchell slammed down three more kills while Foecker added two, including the put-down that ended the run to make it 15-7.
- Ozarks battled back with an 8-3 streak of its own, as a Chamberlain kill closed it to three at 18-15.
- Following an Abi Menzies service error, the Evangels rattled off five in a row, three of which being Foecker kills to bring the MACU edge back to 23-15.
- College of the Ozarks tried to fight its way back by scoring three of the next four, but Foecker was able to tool it off the block to end it for a 25-18 win for MACU.
- Set Three
- Mid-America Christian utilized an early 5-1 run to hold a slight 9-6 advantage through the first 15 rallies.
- A Moreira kill from the middle jumpstarted a dominant MACU streak. The Evangels tallied eight unanswered and got four consecutive after an Ozarks kill to take complete command of the set at 21-7. Foecker was responsible for six of MACU's points off of five kills and a block while Allison Porter added a kill to end the run.
- The Evangels finished strong by scoring three of the final four off of kills from Foecker and Mitchell before Plunk tallied her second service ace on match-point to seal the 25-11 victory.
MATCH NOTES
- Competing in its first match in nine days, the Mid-America Christian attack came in fresh as the Evangels hit for a season-high .423 attack percentage with 46 kills and only five attack errors. It was the fourth-highest hitting clip for the Evangels ever recorded during the NAIA era.
- Defensively, MACU limited College of the Ozarks to just 23 kills on a .099 attack percentage, the Bobcats' lowest hitting percentage inside Keeter Gymnasium this season.
- Hanna Foecker surpassed herself in the MACU record book for the most kills in a three-set match, putting down 25 on a blazing .478 attack percentage. The last time the Evangels played the Bobcats, the Borken, Germany native broke the program's four-set match record with 30 in a 3-1 victory at the Lyon Invitational on Sept. 3. Foecker was also one of the defensive leaders with nine digs.
- Cloie Mitchell had a strong outing, notching seven kills on a .438 hitting clip.
- Lena Stockhammer finished the match with 35 assists to go with three digs and two blocks in the defense.
- Maegan Plunk led the Evangels in the defense with 10 digs while both Stockhammer and Vanessa Moreira recorded a pair of blocks apiece at the net.
- With the win, Mid-America Christian sealed its first NCCAA Central Region Championship and its third consecutive berth to the NCCAA National Championships. The Evangels earned spots in the previous two NCCAA National Championships with an at-large berth in 2019 and an automatic qualifier in 2020.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now look forward to the NCCAA Division I National Championships as the Evangels will return to Point Lookout, Mo. from Dec. 2-4 for their third straight trip to nationals.
