GREENVILLE, S.C. – In preparing to make the trip to the NCCAA National Championships for the fifth-straight year, the MACU volleyball team had three players receive All-Central Region accolades as Sawyer Franz was named the Regional Player of the Year while Lena Stockhammer was also named to the First Team and Casady McKinney garnered Second Team honors.
Franz, a freshman outside hitter from Oklahoma City, leads the team with 440 kills on a 3.58 kills per set and a .225 attack percentage. Her 440 kills currently rank as the fourth-most in a season by any MACU player in the NAIA Era (2007-present), currently sitting 66 kills behind Christiane Costa (506, 2010) for third in the book.
Franz had recorded 20 or more kills in five matches this season, the last was a career-best 24 terminations in a 3-2 win at John Brown that for the first time in program history locked up a No. 3 seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament for the Evangels.
Earning First Team honors for the third-straight year, Stockhammer continued to bring incredible offensive balance to the outside hitter position, tallying 367 kills on a 2.98 kills per set to go along with a career-best .207 attack percentage.
The Klagenfurt, Austria native currently sits in eighth in MACU's single-season kills list and need just four more to eclipse former teammate Hanna Foecker (370, 2019), 40 to surpass Jessica Chestnut (407, 2007) and 52 to pass her own fifth-best mark set last season.
For the second consecutive year, McKinney collected Second Team accolades, leading MACU's distribution efforts with an impressive 729 assists (6.02 assists per set) while operating out of a 6-2 rotation (two rotating setters).
The Yukon, Oklahoma product also continues to be lethal from the service line, ranking third on the team with 45 aces, averaging 0.37 aces per set while already eclipsing 100 career aces in two seasons with the program. McKinney has also been a big part of MACU's stellar back-row defense, recording the third-most digs (232) on a 1.92 per set average.
After winning just the second NCCAA Central Region Championship in program history, the Evangels will be setting their sights on their second NCCAA National Championship and the first at the D-I level as the Evangels will be competing in Keeter Gymnasium in Point Lookout, Missouri from Nov. 29-Dec. 2. MACU will open pool play with a familiar opponent as the Evangels will take on Baptist Bible (Mo.) on Nov. 29 at 11:15 am.
