SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – The MACU volleyball closed out the JBU Golden Eagle Invitational with a strong performance its first ever matchup against Texas A&M-Texarkana as the Evangels cruised to a 3-1 victory inside Bill George Arena on Saturday.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, TAMU-Texarkana 1 (25-14, 15-25, 25-10, 25-17)
  • Mid-America Christian (2-1)
  • TAMU-Texarkana (0-2)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sawyer Franz – 11 Kills, .233 ATK%, 7 Digs, 2 Aces
• Lena Stockhammer – 11 Kills, .286 ATK%
• Casady McKinney – 30 Assists, 11 Digs, 4 Kills, 3 Aces
• Marlee Hunter – 13 Digs, 4 Aces
• Sydney Martin – 11 Digs, 4 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Behind the serve of the team's leader in aces in Casady McKinney, the Evangels managed to jump out to an early 4-0 lead, but TAMU-T was able to outscore MACU 7-5 over the next 12 rallies to close it to a 9-7 game.
  • A Lena Stockhammer side-out kill followed by a pair of Sydney Martin service aces reignited the aggressive Evangels attack as MACU outscored the Eagles 16-7 the rest of the way to cruise to a 25-14 win.
  • The Evangels recorded 10 kills on a blazing .346 attack percentage for the set while limiting TAMU-T to just seven kills on a -.033 hitting clip.
• Set Two
  • While trading the first four rallies, Mid-America Christian went into an uncharacteristic slump as Texarkana went on an 11-1 run to take a commanding 13-3 lead at the midway point.
  • It looked like the Evangels were going to climb back into it as two more Martin dimes from the service line to with a pair of kills from Sawyer Franz and McKinney closed out 7-1 MACU surge to make it a 14-10 game.
  • However, TAMU-Texarkana was able to recapture its earlier momentum down the stretch, outscoring MACU 11-5 in the second half to give the Eagles their only set win of the match.
• Set Three
  • Through the first 16 rallies, neither team was able to gain larger than a three-point cushion, but with the Evangels leading 9-7, MACU went on a 6-1 streak by forcing the Eagles to hit into five attack errors before Sarah Jones slapped down a kill to make it a 16-8 game.
  • After a MACU ball-handling error briefly stopped the run, the Evangels closed out the set just as strong as the Evangels scored nine of the final 10 points to run away with the 25-10 victory.
  • Despite giving up a .385 attack percentage to the Eagles in the second set, the Evangels defense was locked in again for the third, holding TAMU-T to a -.160 attack rate while MACU effectively tallied five aces to go with just one error on 25 serves.
• Set Four
  • Even though the set was close in the early going with MACU holding a slim 7-6 edge through the first 13 rallies, a Stockhammer termination gave the Evangels some major momentum as MACU eventually built its lead out to double-digits once again. To close out the run, the freshman in Franz notched three straight points with back-to-back kills to go with a service ace to bring the score to 19-9.
  • The Eagles rattled off three unanswered off the side-out to close it back to a seven-point game, but TAMU-T could climb no closer as the Evangels wrapped up the 25-17 win.
  • Unlike the previous three sets, the Eagles didn't give MACU many points as the Evangels scored 22 off of 17 kills on a .273 attack percentage to go with five aces and just one service error.

MATCH NOTES

• In the attack, Mid-America Christian finished the match with 46 kills on a .208 attack percentage while Texas A&M-Texarkana could only muster 29 kills on a .083 hitting rate.
• The Evangels were sensational from the service line from beginning to end, finishing with 16 aces to just eight errors, which included only three errors over the course of the final three sets. Those 16 dimes proved to be the most notched by the Evangels since Holly McKamie's tenure as head coach (2020-) as well as set the program's NAIA Era record (2007-) for the most aces in a four-set match. MACU had only recorded more with 20 aces in a three-set win against Texas College on Aug. 30, 2012 and 20 aces in a five-set loss at Tabor (Kan.) on Oct. 9, 2010.
• Lena Stockhammer and Sawyer Franz led the MACU attack with 11 kills apiece while Stockhammer slapped for a .286 hitting percentage while Franz hit for a .233 attack clip.
• Casady McKinney led the passing efforts with 30 assists while turning in a double-double with 11 digs to go with four kills and three service aces.
• While the defense only needed to come up with 58 digs as a team, three Evangels broke into double-digit digs with Marlee Hunter scrounging 13 shovels to go with four aces while Sydney Martin also tallied 11 digs to go with four dimes from the line.
• By winning the match, the Evangels closed out the weekend with a 2-1 record and were the only team in the classic to take a set from the de facto champion Oklahoma Wesleyan on Friday.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will face its first NAIA Top 25 opponent of the season on Friday as the Evangels will head to Hastings, Nebraska for a four-game tournament at the Hastings Classic. MACU will open against the 24^th-ranked host Broncos at 2 p.m. on Aug. 25.