SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – For the first time in program history, the MACU volleyball team will be the No. 3 seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament next week as the Evangels went into Bill George Arena and spoiled John Brown's Senior Night with a five-set victory over the Golden Eagles.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, John Brown 2 (25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 20-25, 15-7)
  • Mid-America Christian (19-10, 15-5 SAC)
  • John Brown (21-10, 14-6 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sawyer Franz – 24 Kills, .224 ATK%, 5 Digs
• Miriam Nardi – 12 Kills, 5 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Ludmilla Souza – 31 Assists, 19 Digs, 2 Aces
• Marlee Hunter – 26 Digs, 4 Assists, 2 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Both Mid-America Christian and John Brown traded a pair of 4-1 runs as an assisted block by Erin Mullins and Savanna Riney on Miriam Nardi's attack tied up at five, but the Evangels recaptured the momentum midway through the set. The Evangels rattled off seven points during a nine-rally run capped off on Sawyer Franz's kill that tagged the back line to make it a 15-9 MACU advantage.
  • The Golden Eagles made a couple of small runs to close it to a three-point game, but JBU's biggest threat came late when it scored on five of six rallies as a Savanna Riney termination closed it to 23-22, forcing head coach Holly McKamie to take a timeout.
  • The Evangels got a massive side-out out of the break as Franz blasted a kill down the left side that was too hot for JBU to handle before Marlee Hunter picked up an ace on the ensuing serve to close out the 25-22 win.
• Set Two
  • It was another back-and-forth battle through the first 18 rallies of the set before Lena Stockhammer smashed a termination from the left side down the middle, igniting a five-unanswered surge behind a pair of kills each from Franz and Nardi as well as a Sydney Martin ace to make it 14-9.
  • John Brown scored three of the next four to cut its deficit to three at 15-12 following an Annabeth Fehrle attack error, but that would be the closest the Golden Eagles would come to catching MACU in the set.
  • Mid-America Christian finished the set strong, scoring 10 of the final 13 points behind four kills, four aces and two JBU attack errors. Ryley Bowden served up three aces in the run while Sarah Jones fired the kill shot on set point to the back-left corner to wrap-up the 25-15 victory.
• Set Three
  • For the third-straight set, the two teams fought tooth-and-nail through the first half of the set, but the Evangels fought back from an early three-point deficit with a three consecutive points on a Jones kill, a Hunter service ace and a Mullins attack error to make it a 13-12 MACU lead.
  • After trading the next two points, John Brown got the separation it was looking for following a Riney kill as the Golden Eagles put together a 5-1 run to grab the 18-15 advantage following a Riney ace, forcing another MACU timeout.
  • MACU made it interesting late with a 3-1 surge finished off on a Franz and Jones assisted block to close it to 20-19, but John Brown scored five of the final six to secure its first win at 25-20.
• Set Four
  • While the first three sets were competitive early, JBU jumped out to a decisive lead right out of the gate as an 8-2 push by the Golden Eagles set the score to 11-4 on Riney and Taylor Golmen assisted block.
  • John Brown grew its lead out to as much as eight at 14-6 before Mid-America Christian fought back, getting some momentum behind a Jones and Nardi side-out assisted block to ignite a 5-1 MACU run featuring two Franz finishes a Nardi kill and an Emma-Kate Schaefer to bring it to 15-11.
  • The Golden Eagles grew their lead out to eight once again off of two Milligan aces, but MACU once again put together a five-point swing to close it to 23-20 on a mis-swing by Sarah Graham.
  • However, the Evangels comeback effort came up just short as block by Graham and Mullins brought it to set-point before Mullins finished off the set herself with a kill to wrap-up a second-straight 25-20 win for the Golden Eagles.
• Set Five
  • An Annabeth Fehrle kill off the JBU block on the first point set the tone for the Evangels in the decisive fifth set as MACU rattled off the first five points Ella Yarborugh's hitting miscue made it a 5-0 game.
  • The Golden Eagles managed to trim it to a two-point game, but Mid-America Christian quickly recaptured the momentum before the side change as Fehrle got another side-out finish before Faith Foutch tallied an ace to make it 8-3 at the switch.
  • There were six-straight side-out points entering the second half, but MACU all but put the match out of reach following back-to-back Franz terminations as the Evangels closed out the 5-1 run on Nardi's match-point kill to close out the 15-7 final.

UP NEXT

• Even though the John Brown was slightly more efficient in the attack .174 to .170, Mid-America Christian greatly outscored the Golden Eagles offensively 64 kills to just 45 for JBU, but the home team committed just 16 attack errors to 31 for the Evangels.
• The service line played a major factor in the result as MACU recorded the fourth-most aces in a single-match for the program in the NAIA Era (2007-present) with 15 to 10 service errors while the Golden Eagles finished with just seven aces to 10 errors, allowing MACU to outscore JBU by eight from the line.
• Sawyer Franz led the MACU attack with a career-high 24 kills on a .224 attack percentage to go with five digs on the defensive end. The freshman outside now needs just two more kills to become just the sixth Evangel in the NAIA Era to reach 400 kills in a season and needs nine kills to catch Jessica Chestnut (407, 2007) for fifth in the single-season record book.
• Ludmilla Souza extended her double-double streak to six-straight matches in the victory as she dished out a team-high 30 assists and shoveled a career-high 19 digs to go with a pair of aces from the line.
• Marlee Hunter led the back-row defense with a match-high 26 digs to go with four assists and two aces while Sarah Jones finished with a team-high three assisted blocks to go with six kills on a .333 hitting rate.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian and John Brown split the season series with both teams winning a five-set match on each of their home floors, but the Evangels surpassed JBU for third in the league standings with a 15-5 conference mark.
• Those 15 wins ties MACU's most victories ever in Sooner Athletic Conference play after the Evangels tallied the same record in 2021 to finish fourth in the league standings that season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now await to see who it will face in the SAC Quarterfinal on Tuesday, Nov. 7 as the Evangels are set up for their second ever home SAC Tournament match against either Oklahoma City or Wayland Baptist at 7:30 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.