BATESVILLE, Ark. – The Mid-America Christian volleyball team picked up a pair of big wins on the first day of the Highlander Invitational on Friday, defeating College of the Ozarks 3-1 early in the afternoon before closing out with a 3-0 sweep over host Lyon in the evening.

GAME ONE / Mid-America Christian vs. College of the Ozarks

• SCORE
  • Mid-America Christian 3, College of the Ozarks 1 (25-17, 26-28, 25-14, 25-13)
    • Mid-America Christian (5-3)
    • College of the Ozarks (2-1)

 

• TOP PERFORMERS
  • Hanna Foecker – 30 Kills, .383 ATK%, 6 Digs
  • Lena Stockhammer – 48 Assists, 2 Kills
  • Maegan Plunk – 31 Digs, 3 Assists
  • Allison Porter – 5 Blocks, 4 Kills, .214 ATK%

 

• MATCH SUMMARY
  • Set One
    • Mid-America Christian and Ozarks battled back and forth through the first 20 rallies as an Abbi Menzies kill tied the set up at 10-all.
    • A Vanessa Moreira kill on the ensuing rally jumpstarted an eight unanswered run by the Evangels to take a commanding 18-10 advantage. During the run, Moreira and Stockhammer picked up in assisted block Hanna Foecker notched three kills and Kaylie Walker tallied a pair of service aces.
    • After a Brooklyn Crawford kill halted the run, the Evangels rattled off three straight as an Allison Porter kill gave MACU its largest lead of the set at 21-11.
    • College of the Ozarks tried to come back by taking five of the next seven points, but an attack error gave MACU the 25-17 opening set victory.
  • Set Two
    • Neither team was able to gain larger than a four-point advantage through the entire set, but Mid-America Christian was able to retake a late lead after an Allison Porter kill by scoring four in a row to make it a 21-18 MACU advantage.
    • The Bobcats battled back by scoring six of the next eight, putting the Evangels' backs against the wall with set point at 24-23.
    • Mid-America Christian survived three set points thanks to a trio of Foecker kills, but scored the final two points of the extended set to hand MACU its only set defeat of the match at 28-26.
  • Set Three
    • CofO dominated the first half of set three as the Bobcats held a 13-9 edge at the midway point.
    • Madalyn Shurley's kill on the following rally ignited an incredible Evangels run as MACU scored the next 11 points to take a commanding 20-13 lead. In that run, the Evangels got four kills off the hand of Foecker while Moreira notched a kill to go with a pair of blocks.
    • CofO's Menzies snapped the run with a kill, but the Evangels finished strong by scoring the final five points to secure the 25-14 victory and reclaim a 2-1 advantage in the match.
  • Set Four
    • MACU scored the first five points of the set behind a pair of Madalyn Shurley kills, a Faith Foutch service ace and a Stockhammer kill before Ozarks battled back with a 6-1 run tie it up at six apiece.
    • The Evangels went into cruise control through the midway point, going on a dominating 13-1 run to take their largest set lead of the match at 19-7. The MACU attack was especially dominant, tallying kills on nine of the points. Foecker put down five of the kills while Maddie Callicoat and Porter each tallied a pair.
    • The Bobcats scored six of the next nine to make a slight comeback, but the Evangels put the match away with three straight points, ending it on a Stockhammer kill to seal the 25-13 win.
• MATCH NOTES
  • Mid-America Christian was stellar on both the offensive and defensive ends, recording 57 kills on a .209 attack percentage while limiting Ozarks to just 33 kills on a .026 clip.
  • Senior outside hitter Hanna Foecker tied her own program record and broke the MACU four-set match record with 30 kills on a blistering .383 attack percentage. The previous four-set match record was set by Jessica Chestnut on Oct. 30, 2007 when she turned in 24 against Oklahoma Wesleyan.
  • Maegan Plunk also usurped her own four-set match digs record by finishing the match 31. The Mineola, Texas product has turned in back-to-back 30-plus dig performances after tying the four-set record of 30 against John Brown on Wednesday.
  • With 48 assists, Lena Stockhammer turned in the third-most assists in a four-set match. It was the fourth match this season that the Austrian native turned in 40 or more assists in a match.
  • The reigning SAC Defender of the Week Allison Porter had another strong match at the net, turning in five blocks on a 1.25 per set average, turning in four kills on the offensive end as well.
  • Mid-America Christian defeated College of the Ozarks, the 2019 NCCAA Division I National Champions in their first ever meeting since MACU became an NAIA member and up to the NCCAA Division I level in 2007.

GAME TWO / Mid-America Christian vs. Lyon

• SCORE
  • Mid-America Christian 3, Lyon 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-19)
    • Mid-America Christian (6-3)
    • Lyon (5-2)

 

• TOP PERFORMERS
  • Hanna Foecker – 20 Kills, .410 ATK%, 5 Digs
  • Lena Stockhammer – 36 Assists, 11 Digs, 2 Aces, 2 Kills
  • Maegan Plunk – 11 Digs, 5 Assists
  • Allison Porter – 3 Blocks

 

• MATCH SUMMARY
  • Set One
    • After Lyon cut the MACU lead to 3-2, Mid-America Christian scored three straight to start a 12-4 run that was capped off on a Hanna Foecker kill, giving MACU its largest lead of the set at 15-6.
    • Lyon countered with a 5-1 run of its own to close the gap to 16-11.
    • The Evangels answered with three unanswered, getting a pair of kills to extend the edge back to 19-11. The Scots were unable to close in on MACU the rest of the way as the Evangels came away with the 25-18 victory.
  • Set Two
    • Following a Foecker attack error that allowed the Scots to cut it to 5-3, the Evangels countered with a 7-1 run that finished off by a Maddie Callicoat and Desiree Brewer block to bring the MACU advantage to 12-4.
    • After trading the next four rallies, Lyon went on an 8-3 run to close the gap to 17-14.
    • Mid-America Christian countered by scoring six of the next eight points as a Callicoat kill pushed the MACU edge back out to 23-16.
    • The Scots were unable to close the gap to closer than five as a Callicoat kill closed out the 25-19 win for MACU.
  • Set Three
    • MACU scored seven of the first nine points before Lyon came roaring back with a 9-4 run to draw the set even at 11.
    • A Vanessa Moreira kill jumpstarted a four-point Evangels run as Foecker pitched in a pair of kills to make it a 15-11 edge.
    • Lyon countered by winning six of the next seven rallies to take its only lead of the set at 17-16.
    • Allison Porter helped snap the run by recording blocks on back-to-back points Lena Stockhammer and Foecker. The defense ignited MACU to close out the set strong, scoring nine of the final 11 points pull out the 25-19 victory to complete the sweep.
• MATCH NOTES
  • Mid-America Christian turned in 47 kills on its second-highest hitting percentage of the season at .302 while limiting Lyon to just a 30 kills on a .109 percentage.
  • Lena Stockhammer finished the match with 36 assists, tying the third-most in a three-set match during the NAIA era for MACU while also leading the defense with 11 digs.
  • Hanna Foecker once again placed her name in the MACU record books as her 20 kills was the fourth-most in a three-set match and hit for her second-highest attack percentage of the season at .410.
  • Maegan Plunk matched Stockhammer in the defense with 11 digs while Allison Porter led the net presence with three blocks in limited action.
  • Mid-America Christian improved to 2-0 in true road matches and have strung together five straight wins.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will open the second day at the Highlander Invite against Jarvis Christian (Texas) for a 1 p.m. match before closing out the tourney against Centenary (La.) at 6 p.m.