BETHANY, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team got off to a slow start in a road matchup at Southwestern Christian, but the Evangels were able swing the momentum in their favor in the second set to come away with a 3-1 comeback victory at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium on Monday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Southwestern Christian 1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-18)
  • Mid-America Christian (13-12, 2-3 SAC)
  • Southwestern Christian (2-11, 1-6 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Hanna Foecker – 23 kills, .309 attack percentage, 17 digs, 1 service ace
• Desiree Brewer – 10 kills, .409 attack percentage, 4 blocks
• Morgan Van Meir – 50 assists, 13 digs
• Maegan Plunk – 29 digs, 4 assists, 2 kills

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian and Southwestern Christian exchanged short runs through the first half as the Evangels countered a four unanswered Eagles run with three straight of their own as an assisted block from Maddie Callicoat and Tiana Nihipali gave MACU the 11-10 edge.
  • SCU rattled off six in a row to take a 16-11 advantage, forcing MACU head coach Holly McKamie to take a timeout.
  • After the Evangels got the side out following the break, the Eagles swung back by taking three of the next four to grab their largest lead of the match at 20-13.
  • MACU got three straight from a pair of Faith Foutch kills as well as one from Hanna Foecker to pull it back to within four at 20-16, but Southwestern Christian was able to hold off the Evangels rally to secure a 25-21 opening set win.
• Set Two
  • The second set had a similar start as set one with both teams stringing together short rallies before the Eagles were able to gain a slim advantage off a Callicoat attack error at 10-9.
  • After Callicoat redeemed herself with a kill on the following rally, the Evangels put together a dominant 13-1 run to claim a 22-11 advantage. Foecker played an instrumental role in the run by notching four kills while the MACU defense also tallied four blocks.
  • Southwestern Christian tried to get back into it by tallying points on four of the following six rallies, but a Treasure Mozon service error gave MACU the 25-15 set two victory.
• Set Three
  • The pivotal third set was a battle with SCU opening with a 3-1 run before the Evangels countered by taking eight of the next nine with a Morgan Van Meir kill giving MACU a 9-4 cushion.
  • Southwestern Christian was resilient, putting together a streak of six points in seven rallies to tie the set up before kills from Nihipali and Foecker put MACU back in-front, 12-10.
  • Three straight Eagles points were answered on four in a row from MACU to give the Evangels a 16-13 cushion.
  • Mid-America Christian held serve before Southwestern Christian took six of the next eight points grab a slim 23-22 advantage.
  • A Callicoat kill and a ball handling error by the Eagles put game-point in MACU's favor as Foecker delivered by finding a hole in the defense for the game-winning kill for a crucial 25-23 set three win.
• Set Four
  • Mid-America Christian steadily built a commanding lead through the first 20 rallies, utilizing a late four-point run to hold a 14-6 edge.
  • The Evangels committed three straight errors to give Southwestern Christian some life, but MACU was able to regroup behind another Callicoat kill, taking nine of the next 11 rallies to hold its largest lead of the set at 23-12.
  • Southwestern Christian continued to hang around, scoring six of the next seven points, but Foecker once again was able to find the open area of the floor for a kill on the third match-point to secure a 25-18 set four win.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian outhit Southwestern Christian .183-to-.108 for the match. After hitting for just a .111 percentage in set one, the Evangels swatted .207 over the final three sets.
• For the fourth time this season, Hanna Foecker notched a season-high 23 kills on a .309 attack percentage, tying her own second-best mark for kills in a four-set match.
• Morgan Van Meir became just the second MACU setter since the program joined the NAIA in 2007 to record at least 50 assists in a match. Van Meir finished just one shy of Calle Solie's four-set assist record and tied Solie for the fifth-most in a single match regardless of length.
• Senior libero Maegan Plunk also found herself in MACU's NAIA era record book once again as her 29 digs matched Christiane Costa for the third-most in a four-set match and finished just one back of her own record set against John Brown during the 2019 season.
• Since the start of the 2019 season, Mid-America Christian has won four straight against the Eagles. In their previous meeting in the Gaulke Activity Center back on Oct. 10, the Evangels came away with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-20 three-set sweep over SCU.

NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will face its toughest test of the season on Thursday, Mar. 18 as the Evangels will host No. 15 Oklahoma City. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. start inside the Gaulke Activity Center.