eM Client uses EWS, not MAPI. That said, since SmarterMail ties MAPI and EWS together, eM Client should be connecting with EWS since you stated the account has MAPI enabled. Based on what you are describing, I would suspect an issue with the autodiscover configuration for the domain. Here's a link to our KB article on setting up autodiscover for SmarterMail:
Andrew Barker
Software Developer
SmarterTools Inc.
www.smartertools.com