PLAINVIEW, Texas – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team notched one of its biggest wins of the season on Friday night as the Evangels fought back from being down two sets to pull out a 3-2 stunner at Wayland Baptist.
 
Mid-America Christian at Wayland Baptist

• SCORE
  • Mid-America Christian 3, Wayland Baptist 2 (23-25, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-12)
    • Mid-America Christian (9-3, 3-0 SAC)
    • Wayland Baptist (8-4, 2-1 SAC)
• TOP PERFORMERS
  • Hanna Foecker – 33 Kills, .329 ATK%, 5 Digs, 3 Blocks
  • Vanessa Moreira – 14 Kills, .343 ATK%, 5 Digs, 3 Blocks
  • Lena Stockhammer – 60 Assists, 4 Digs, 3 Kills
  • Maegan Plunk – 36 Digs, 1 Ace
  • Allison Porter – 7 Kills, .500 ATK%, 5 Blocks, 4 Digs
• MATCH SUMMARY
  • Set One
    • Mid-America Christian was able to grab the early momentum, scoring on five of the first six rallies before swapping the next eight with Wayland Baptist to hold a 10-6 advantage.
    • The Pioneers surged back with an 8-2 run to capture their first lead of the match at 14-12.
    • A Hanna Foecker kill and a WBU attack error brought the set back even at 14-all before the Evangels and Pioneers traded the next 13 points with the Pioneers holding a slim 21-20 edge.
    • Back-to-back kills from Cloie Mitchell and Foecker jumpstarted a 4-1 run to grab a 22-21 lead, but Wayland Baptist finished the set strong by taking four of the final five to hand the Evangels a tough 25-23 opening set defeat.
  • Set Two
    • WBU captured the early momentum by grabbing a 7-3 lead through the first 10 rallies.
    • The Evangels registered five kills on a 6-1 run, three coming from Foecker with one apiece from Maddie Callicoat and Allison Porter to grab a slim 9-8 margin.
    • MACU maintained a 12-11 advantage midway through the set before the Pioneers put together another strong run, scoring seven of the next eight take back an 18-13 lead.
    • The closest MACU could trim into the Wayland advantage was on a Foecker kill to make it 21-17, but the Pioneers finished off the set by scoring the final four points to secure the 25-17 win.
  • Set Three
    • Mid-America Christian opened the third set by scoring five of the first eight before the Pioneers clawed back with a 7-4 run of their own to hold a slight 10-9 edge.
    • After trading the next four, the Evangels were able to jump ahead and gain some breathing room with a 6-2 streak, capped off on a Vanessa Moreira kill to bring the score to 17-14.
    • Follow a timeout, WBU rattled off four of the next six to trim the MACU advantage to 19-18.
    • Another Moreira kill sprang the momentum MACU's way to finish off the set by scoring six of the final seven points. Foecker put down back-to-back kills to finish off the 25-19 set three win.
  • Set Four
    • Despite getting out to an early 4-3 lead, the Pioneers turned the tide on MACU after a Paxton Patterson and Jayla Schultz block sparked an 11-4 streak to give Wayland Baptist a commanding 14-8 lead at the midway point.
    • After maintaining the six-point cushion over the next six rallies, Mid-America Christian surged back behind a Foecker kill that jumpstarted the Evangels attack. MACU grabbed five of the next six points as a Callicoat and Porter assisted block brought it to within two at 18-16.
    • Even though the Pioneers claimed three of the next five rallies, the Evangels once again stormed back with a 6-1 run as a block by Porter and Lena Stockhammer brought the match to set-point at 24-22.
    • While WBU was able to survive one set-point on a kill by Paxton Patterson, it wouldn't be able to survive another as Foecker registered her program-tying 30^th kill of the match to seal the 25-23 win and send the match to a decisive fifth set.
  • Set Five
    • Mid-America Christian was able to hold an early 4-3 edge before Wayland Baptist scored four of the next five to take its largest lead of the set at 7-5.
    • The Evangels were able to draw it back even on kills from Callicoat and Mitchell prior to the Pioneers taking back their final lead of the match on a Tatijana Markic kill.
    • MACU countered with three straight kills, two coming off the hand of Moreira to go with Stockhammer's, reclaiming the advantage before the Pioneers got a pair of points back on a Faith Foutch service error and a Mitchell attack error to bring it even at 10-10.
    • Mitchell was able to find redemption on the ensuing rally with a kill, giving the Evangels the lead for good as Moreira followed with a kill compounded with a WBU attack error to make it 13-10.
    • The Pioneers were able to score two of the next three, but Foecker finished off the match by tooling a kill off the Pioneers block to secure the 15-12 set five victory.
• MATCH NOTES
  • Mid-America Christian turned in a single match program record 71 kills on a .263 attack percentage while the Pioneers finished with 73 kills on a .249 clip. The previous record held for a single match by MACU also came against Wayland Baptist when it finished with 70 in a five-set defeat at the Gaulke Activity Center on Sept. 27, 2007.
  • The Evangels also broke the assists record with 66, topping the previous record of 65 set in the same match against the Pioneers.
  • MACU recorded just its third win ever against Wayland Baptist and its second win in Plainview, but the Evangels have also now won three of the last five against the Pioneers.
  • With 33 kills, Foecker surpassed her own NAIA era program record of 30 that was originally set in a 3-2 victory over Southwestern Christian on Oct. 19, 2019 and then matched last Friday in a 3-1 win over College of the Ozarks.
  • After recording the third-most assists in a single match with 52 against Kansas Wesleyan in MACU's first match of the season, Stockhammer also found herself at the top of the record book with 60, shattering Calle Solie's record of 54 marked in a 3-2 win over Central Methodist on Oct. 6, 2012.
  • With 36 digs, Maegan Plunk tied her own fourth-best mark in the MACU record book, matching her output in a 3-2 loss to Huston-Tillotson on Aug. 24, 2019.
  • Allison Porter led MACU at the net with five blocks while putting down a season-high seven kills on a .500 attack percentage while Vanessa Moreira also finished with a season-high 14 kills on a .343 attack percentage.
  • By getting the win, Mid-America Christian maintained its hold atop of the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, staying in a three-way tie with Oklahoma Panhandle State and Southwestern Assemblies of God.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap up its road trip with another tough matchup at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday afternoon. The battle between the two top teams in the SAC will take place at noon at the Anchor D Arena in Goodwell, Okla.