SILOAM SPRINGS, ARK. – The Mid-America Christian was able to compete closely with John Brown through three sets, but the Evangels struggled to thwart the Eagles attack in the fourth set as MACU fell 3-1 inside Bill George Arena on Thursday night.
SCORE
- John Brown 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (25-15, 17-25, 25-19, 25-11)
- Mid-America Christian (10-7, 4-4 SAC)
- John Brown (11-3, 6-1 SAC)
TOP PERFORMERS
MATCH SUMMARY
- Set One
- While a Vanessa Moreira kill was able to keep Mid-America Christian within three at 7-4 in the early going, John Brown put together a strong 10-3 run just past the midway point to claim a commanding 22-11 advantage.
- The Evangels rattled off three in a row off a JBU attack error and back-to-back kills from Annabeth Fehrle and Moreira to pull it back to single digits, the Golden Eagles scored three of the final four points to secure the 25-15 opening set win.
- MACU struggled to slow down the John Brown attack as the Golden Eagles tallied 12 kills on a .216 attack percentage while the Evangels could only muster nine kills on an .073 clip.
- D
- Set Two
- After conceding the first point, the Evangels went on a commanding run as a Lena Stockhammer kill started a six-unanswered streak during a 10-2 run as Fehrle's put-down put MACU in-front 10-3, prompting JBU to call a timeout.
- John Brown closed the gap to five on a pair of occasions, but a Stockhammer and Sarah Jones block started a 6-1 surge as MACU took its largest lead of the match on a Golden Eagles attack error to make it 20-10.
- JBU rattled off four unanswered to close the gap to six, but the Evangels scored five of the final eight as a Lauryn Walters kill found the middle of the JBU side of the floor, securing the 25-17 win.
- Mid-America Christian was stellar in the attack during the second set, scoring 17 kills on a .255 attack percentage while JBU was limited to 12 kills on an .088 hitting rate.
- Set Three
- MACU jumped out to an early 4-3 edge before the Golden Eagles fired off a strong 9-2 run as an Emma-Kate Schaefer kill gave JBU the 12-6 advantage midway through the set.
- The Evangels fought back thanks to three straight points off an assisted block by Jones and Stockhammer, a JBU attack error and a Stockhammer kill to bring it to 14-12 before the Evangels tallied two more points just four rallies later off a Moreira kill and a Faith Foutch service ace to close the deficit to 16-15.
- However, the Golden Eagles scored four straight off a service error before eventually closing out with the 25-19 win in the set.
- MACU was challenged to contain the JBU attack, tallying 14 kills at a .233 hitting percentage while the Evangels couldn't find an offensive rhythm with only 10 kills at an .060 clip.
- Set Four
- While the Evangels were able to keep it to within three in the early going off a Faith Foutch kill from the back row, John Brown went on an insurmountable nine-unanswered streak as a Stockhammer attack error brought the score to 17-5.
- MACU thwarted the run off back-to-back Walters kill and a Casady McKinney kill, bringing the set back to single-digits at 17-8.
- After trading the next two points, the Golden Eagles closed out the set by scoring on seven of the final nine rallies to seal the 25-11 win.
- John Brown continued to be potent in the attack, tallying 12 kills on a .250 attack percentage while the Evangels were held to eight kills at a .023 clip.
MATCH NOTES
- Overall, MACU was able to hold John Brown to below its season attack percentage. Coming into the match hitting .222, the Evangels limited JBU to 50 kills on a .186 attack percentage, but the Evangels also struggled in the attack, mustering only 44 kills on a .111 hitting rate.
- For the second straight match, Cloie Mitchell led all MACU attackers with 10 kills while Annabeth Fehrle finished the match with nine.
- Lena Stockhammer narrowly missed a triple-double with 14 assists and 12 digs to go with eight kills in the attack and four blocks at the net.
- Sarah Jones also pitched in a team-high four blocks while Marlee Hunter averaged an astounding seven digs per set, tallying 28 digs in the back row to go along with Sydney Martin's 19.
- Mid-America Christian's struggles to win in Bill George Arena continued as the Evangels fell to 1-14 all-time in Siloam Springs after picking up the program's first ever win in the venue last season.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will return to non-conference play on Saturday as the Evangels will trek over to Bartlesville, Okla. to compete in a tri-match hosted by Oklahoma Wesleyan. MACU will face off against Sterling (Kan.) at 3 p.m. before taking on the Eagles in the 5 p.m. match.
