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The Mid-America Christian volleyball team struggled in the final half of set one, but the Evangels showed strong resilience over the final three sets as the Evangels battled back to come away with a critical 3-1 victory over John Brown in their final regular season match inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday.

 

SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, John Brown 1 (16-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-23)
  • Mid-America Christian (17-12, 11-7 SAC)
  • John Brown (20-6, 14-4 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Lena Stockhammer – 16 Kills, .220 ATK%, 14 Assists, 6 Digs, 2 Aces, 2 Blocks
• Cloie Mitchell – 12 Kills, .200 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Vanessa Moreira – 11 Kills, .423 ATK%, 5 Blocks, 2 Assists
• Casady McKinney – 27 Assists, 13 Digs, 4 Aces, 2 Kills
• Marlee Hunter – 28 Digs, 2 Assists

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • John Brown got off to a solid start as the Golden Eagles built four-point lead through the first half of the set as an Ellie Lampton termination set the score to 11-7.
  • Following a Vanessa Moreira kill, the Evangels surged in-front on six straight points as a Sydney Martin service ace followed by kills from Casady McKinney, Moreira and Lena Stockhammer gave MACU the lead before a Micah Fouts attack error made it a 13-11 advantage.
  • Mid-America Christian maintained its lead until 15-14 before the Golden Eagles went on an insurmountable run. JBU ratted off an eight unanswered points during an 11-1 streak as John Brown claimed a 25-16 set one win.
  • Both teams were relatively even in the attack with 11 kills, but six attack errors by MACU resulted in a .147 attack percentage while the Golden Eagles notched just two hitting errors for an efficient .360 attack clip.
  • Stockhammer and Moreira were the center-point of the MACU attack as Stockhammer tallied six kills on a .556 attack percentage while Moreira recorded four terminations on an .800 clip.
  • Setting also played a big factor in JBU's set win as the Evangels committed three setting errors and two ball-handling errors while JBU didn't commit a single error in its passing efforts.
• Set Two
  • The two teams were evenly matched through the first half as neither team took larger than a two point lead up to a Micah Fouts kill tied it at 9-all. After Moreira put down a kill, MACU scored on four of the next five rallies as another Moreira kill and another Martin ace helped push the Evangels' edge out to 13-10.
  • John Brown battled back with a 7-3 run to briefly take the lead on a Fouts and Delaney Barnes assisted block, but a Barnes attack error and back-to-back McKinney aces put MACU back in-front 19-17.
  • It was back-and-forth toward the end as the lead exchanged hands four more times before an Ellie Lampton termination tied it up at 24.
  • Following a Julie Milligan service error, Miriam Nardi finished off the set with a kill from the right side for a 26-24 win to tie the match up at one apiece.
  • Once again, the attack numbers were relatively even with both teams recording 12 kills in the set while the Golden Eagles hit a slightly better percentage at .133 to .119 for Mid-America Christian.
  • The service line played a big factor as MACU notched three aces to four errors while the JBU tabbed no aces to five service miscues.
  • After being shutout in the first set, Cloie Mitchell came back strong in set two to lead the MACU attack with four kills on a .300 attack percentage.
• Set Three
  • It was a close battle between the two teams over the first 19 rallies as John Brown strung together a three-point run to take a 10-9 lead off back-to-back Madeline Nolan kills.
  • Mid-America Christian countered with a huge run as a Lauryn Walters kill ignited a string of eight unanswered. The run consisted of five Evangels kills, two of which from Stockhammer as well as one apiece from McKinney and Mitchell to go along with a Mitchell and Moreira assisted block before a Taylor Golmen attack error made it a 17-10 game.
  • JBU closed the gap to four on two different occasions, but MACU closed out by scoring five of the final seven points as a JBU service error and attack error wrapped up the 25-18 final.
  • While John Brown effectively put down 15 kills on a .238 attack percentage, the Golden Eagles struggled to contain MACU's attack and service as the Evangels notched 12 kills on a .303 hitting clip. MACU also tallied five more service aces with no errors while JBU came up empty from the line while committing three miscues.
  • Stockhammer put together another strong set in the attack with six kills on a .556 attack rate.
• Set Four
  • Mid-America Christian was able to slowly build a strong lead on JBU through the 24 rallies as a three-point run capped off on a Mitchell and Moreira assisted block swelled the MACU advantage to 15-9.
  • John Brown worked its way back off a 6-2 run as a McKinney ball-handling error brought the score to 17-15.
  • The Evangels made up for the miscue by scoring four of the next five behind a trio of Mitchell kills and a Sarah Jones termination, but the Golden Eagles surged back with a 6-1 streak of their own to tie it at 22 on a Callie Mullins kill.
  • MACU closed out the match strong by scoring three of the final four as a Moreira kill, a Moreira and Stockhammer assisted block and a McKinney service error led up to the match being finish off on the match-point kill by Walters to seal the 25-23 win.
  • Mid-America Christian tallied 15 kills in the set, but hit for just a .174 attack percentage while John Brown turned in 11 kills on a slightly higher .182 hitting clip.
  • The Evangels had another strong set at the service line with five aces to two errors while the Golden Eagles were held to just one ace.
  • Mitchell led MACU with six kills on a .364 hitting percentage while McKinney dished out eight assists and tallied two aces.

MATCH NOTES

• The two teams were evenly matched in the attack as the Evangels recorded 50 kills on a .181 attack percentage while John Brown notched its 49 kills on a slightly more efficient .214 attack rate.
• The service line played the biggest factor in the match as Mid-America Christian tied a season-high 14 service aces and committed just eight errors while the Golden Eagles, a team averaging seven service aces a match were held to just two aces and tabbed 10 errors.
• Three Evangels scored double-digit kills in the match, led by Lena Stockhammer with 16 kills on a .220 attack percentage to go with 14 assists, six digs, two aces and two blocks.
• Cloie Mitchell put up 12 kills on a .200 attack rate while Vanessa Moreira turned in 11 kills on a blistering .423 hitting percentage along with a team-best five blocks.
• Casady McKinney led the MACU passing efforts with 27 assists to go with 13 digs for a double-double. McKinney was also one of MACU's leaders from the service line with four aces, alongside Sydney Martin who also finished with four aces to go with 12 digs in defense.
• Marlee Hunter led the back row defense with 28 digs, averaging seven per set.
• Mid-America Christian salvaged a season split with John Brown after the Golden Eagles came away with a 3-1 win in Siloam Springs, Ark. on Sept. 22. While JBU still holds a 24-6 lead in the all-time series, the Evangels have now won three of the last four meetings.
• MACU wrapped up the regular season with an 11-4 record inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
• With the win and an Oklahoma City loss at No. 23 Texas Wesleyan on Saturday, the Evangels jumped up into the No. 4 spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings with two matches left to go.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will close out the regular season with a pair of road matches at Central Christian and Langston next week. The Evangels will take on Central Christian on Tuesday, Nov. 1 with a 7 p.m. opening serve inside Jerry Alexander Arena in McPherson, Kan.

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