KANSAS CITY, Mo. – With the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announcing its 2021 Volleyball All-America Teams on Thursday morning, senior outside hitter Hanna Foecker became the first Mid-America Christian volleyball player to ever be placed on the illustrious team as Foecker garnered Second Team honors.
Foecker is earning her second recognition from the NAIA after she was selected for NAIA All-America Honorable Mention honors during the split 2020-21 season alongside teammate Maegan Plunk.
The 6-2 outside hitter from Borken, Germany put up unprecedented attacking numbers during her third season with the program. Not only did her 776 kills shatter her own MACU single season record, but set the most kills by any player competing at a four-year institution, including NCAA Divisions I, II and III as well as NAIA and NCCAA Division I and II. The next closest player to Foecker's kills number this season is NCAA DI Central Florida's McKenna Melville with 617.
Foecker's 5.32 kills per set rate was also the best in the NAIA and was one of only two players this season to eclipse more than five kills per set, with the other being the NAIA Attacker of the Year in Park's Nada Meawad (5.09).
Not only was it a career-year for Foecker in regards to kills, but it was also her most efficient season in the attack. Her .284 attack percentage set the fourth-highest clip by any MACU player that has recorded more than 100 kills in its NAIA era single season record book.
Foecker also made another mark in the MACU season records for service aces as her mark of 40 set the ninth-best single season mark since joining the NAIA in 2007. Defensively, Foecker set her career-best in the back line with 335.
During the season, Foecker was selected as the NAIA Attacker of the Week twice, garnering the Week 2 honor after recording 126 kills, averaging 6.3 kills per set while hitting for a .412 clip in wins over Science & Arts, John Brown, College of the Ozarks, Lyon, Jarvis Christian and Centenary. Foecker received the Week 11 Attacker of the Week after putting down 40 kills, a 6.67 per set average on a .466 attack percentage in a pair of three-set sweeps over Central Christian and Langston.
Overall, Foecker had earned the NAIA Attacker of the Week four times in her illustrious career as no other Evangels player had ever won the accolade previously.
Over the course of three-year career with the Evangels, Foecker smashed the program's career kills record with 1673, nearly doubling the previous mark held by MACU Player of the Decade Christiane Costa, who notched 844 kills during the 2009 and 2010 seasons at MACU. Costa became MACU's first ever NAIA All-America Honorable Mention recipient in 2010 when she finished with 506 kills on a 3.59 per set average and a .282 attack percentage. Foecker's 4.65 kills per set mark is also 1.27 kills higher than Costa's career average.
Foecker is also closing out her Evangels career with 120 service aces, the third-most in the MACU record books behind teammate Kaylie Walker (151, 2018-21) and Hannah Luedtke (144, 2013-15). Foecker's 844 career digs ranks eighth in the record book.
Mid-America Christian just finished its most successful season since joining the NAIA and NCCAA Division I level in 2007 as the Evangels wrapped up the season with a 28-11 record and came away with a second-place finish at the NCCAA Division I National Championships in Point Lookout, Mo. on Dec. 4. MACU also put together its best finish ever in Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 14-6 mark to finish in a tie for fourth in the league standings.
