WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The MACU volleyball team struggled to get any sort of attack going against a stingy No. 24 Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) blocking effort as the Evangels fell in straight sets inside the Sheaffer Center on Friday night.
 
SCORE

• SW Assemblies of God 3, Mid-America Christian 0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-17)
  • Mid-America Christian (6-6, 2-1 SAC)
  • SW Assemblies of God (5-5, 3-0 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sawyer Franz – 10 Kills, 5 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Casady McKinney – 31 Assists, 8 Digs
• Marlee Hunter – 13 Digs, 6 Assists, 2 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • After conceding the first point, Mid-America Christian went on a strong run, scoring on seven of the next eight rallies as a pair of Marlee Hunter service aces and two Lena Stockhammer kills pushed the MACU edge out to 7-2.
  • With SAGU getting a side-out, the Evangels struggled against the service of Taylor Cavozos and Riley Burcham as the Lady Lions rattled off an 11-1 run to take a 13-8 lead midway through the set.
  • MACU rattled off four of the next five to close the gap to two, but the Evangels were unable to climb no closer the rest of the way as SAGU eventually held on for the 25-20 win.
• Set Two
  • Mid-America Christian once again got off to a strong start, scoring on the first four rallies featuring a pair of back row kills from Faith Foutch and Sawyer Franz before eventually building a five-point advantage at 8-3 on an Annabeth Fehrle termination and a Sydney Martin ace.
  • Once again, SAGU put together an unstoppable run leading into the midway portion, rattling off 10-straight as an assisted block by Lilly Hanna and Emma Tompkins on Franz's attack attempt set the score to 13-8.
  • The Evangels once again chipped their way back, scoring four of the next five behind three Franz finishes, but a 7-1 run of the Lady Lions gave them an eight-point cushion at 21-13 before eventually hanging on for their second straight 25-20 win.
• Set Three
  • The Evangels opened by scoring the first three points on back-to-back assisted blocks by Franz and Sarah Jones on last year's SAC Attacker of the Year Emma Tompkins before the Lady Lions eventually clawed back to tie it at 7-all after a three-unanswered rally of their own.
  • The two squads battled through five ties and three lead changes over the next 17 rallies, but three straight points by SAGU on three straight Evangels attack errors gave the Lady Lions the lead for good at 17-15.
  • MACU managed to keep it to within a point over the next three rallies, but Southwestern Assemblies of God finished off the match by scoring the final seven points to secure the 25-17victory.

MATCH NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian managed to out-kill SAGU 37-35, the Evangels struggled in the attack against the Lady Lions block as SAGU forced the Evangels into 26 attack errors with 13 blocks, limiting MACU to just an .090 attack percentage while SAGU committed just 12 attack miscues for a .230 hitting clip.
• Sawyer Franz and Lena Stockhammer led the MACU attack with 10 kills and nine kills respectively, but the outside pair struggled against the Lions blocking by mustering a .118 and .154 attack rate.
• Mid-America Christian was able to hold last year's SAC Player of the Year Emma Tompkins offensively in-check as the senior middle recorded just three kills on a -.125 hitting clip.
• However, the Evangels were unable to contain the balanced Lady Lions attack as a whole Lilly Hanna led SAGU with six kills on a .667 attack percentage and recorded nine blocks.
• Casady McKinney dished out a match-high 31 assists and recorded eight digs while Marlee Hunter led the MACU back row with 13 digs.
• The Evangels suffered their fourth straight loss to the Lady Lions dating back to Sept. 16, 2022.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will face another fierce opponent to wrap-up its Texas road swing on Saturday as the Evangels will battle No. 20 Texas Wesleyan inside the Sid Richardson Center at 1 p.m.