Mid-America Christian University

OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Volleyball team made program history after a five-set victory over Texas Wesleyan as the Evangels defeated the Rams for the first time inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Friday night.  
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Texas Wesleyan 2 (25-11, 24-26, 14-25, 27-25, 15-12)
  • Mid-America Christian: (10-8, 6-6 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan: (11-9, 8-4 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Mia Benson: 15 Kills, .195 ATK%, 5 Digs
• Seyi Atolagbe: 14 Kills, .444 ATK%, 5 Blocks, 2 Digs
• Madi Trayler: 11 Kills, .333 ATK%, 2 Assists, Dig
• Marcela Nalin: 10 Kills, .206 ATK%, 8 Digs, 4 Blocks
• Jasmine Liongco: 26 Assists,11 Digs, Ace  
• Kristen Straughn: 23 Assists, 6 Digs, Ace, Kill
• Gracelyn Skaggs: 17 Digs, 2 Assists, Ace

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian jumped on the front foot from the first point as Seyi Atolagbe's punctuating finish set the tone in the opening set. The Evangels lead grew to 11-5 with six different MACU attackers recording a kill.
  • The Evangels continued to pull away with a dominating 23-9 advantage after winning 13 of 15 rallies to open the 14-point gap. Texas Wesleyan committed many attacking errors, but Kristen Straughn's service ace pulled MACU to set point.
  • TWU scored two consecutive before Morgan Cross punched home the kill on set point to lead MACU to a dominating 25-11 opening set win.
• Set Two
  • The Rams opened a much more competitive second set compared to the opener as the teams were tied through the first few rallies. Once again, the Evangels offense was spread around through the likes of Marcela Nalin, Mia Benson, and Madi Trayler.
  • MACU went on a mini four-point spurt to lead 12-9 led by Benson, but the Rams stormed back and took the lead into the media timeout at 15-14.
  • TWU poured on the pressure in the latter stages of the second set to lead 23-17. However, MACU regrouped out of the timeout to rattle off five consecutive points with consecutive service aces from Kaetlen Schier to get the Evangels back within one at 23-22.
  • Mid-America Chrisitan fended off the first set point as Marcela Nalin hammered two down to level it 24-24. But the Rams recovered out of the timeout to snatch the final two points and the second set 26-24.
• Set Three
  • Texas Wesleyan opened the third set in complete domination as the Rams quickly doubled up the Evangels at 8-4. MACU were unable to slow down the Rams' attack while committing errors on the offensive end.
  • TWU continued to rally and led 15-8 at the media timeout. The push didn't stop there as the lead extended to 19-9 late in the set.
  • The Evangels were unable to spark a late set rally in the third set like the second. The Rams claimed the third set after a service error gave TWU the 25-14 win and a 2-1 set lead.
• Set Four
  • After Texas Wesleyan jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, the Evangels rallied off six straight with Atolagbe leading the way with a pair of kills. The Rams fought back and tied it 10-10 with four straight of their own.
  • TWU continued to score points in bunches and led by four once again at 14-10. However, out of the MACU timeout, the Evangels stole the lead right back after the big block from Bailey White put them up 17-15.
  • The Evangels continued to lead and reached set point as once again White made an impact in the fourth set. TWU fended off five set points and knotted it up at 24s and eventually reached match point after an ace.
  • MACU showed tremendous effort once again to close the fourth set with three straight points first with Madi Trayler to save match point. Bailey White converted on the sixth fourth set point for the Evangels after a 27-25 set result to force a deciding set five.
• Set Five
  • The Evangels started the decider on the front foot with a 4-1 lead with self-inflicted attacking errors adding up from the Rams. However, TWU's block defense started to spark a comeback as MACU took a narrow 7-6 lead at the midway point.
  • After a kill from the Rams' attacker to give them an 11-10 advantage, Seyi Atolagbe produced two massive blocks to put MACU back in front. Mia Benson forced a blocking error from TWU to give MACU a 13-12 lead. Then consecutive kills from Marcela Nalin finished off the Rams in dramatic fashion to pull the Evangels across the finish line with a 15-12 final set result.

MATCH NOTES

• MACU outhit TWU 59-52 in the kill margin and a much more efficient attacking percentage at .250 to the Rams' .132 ATK%. The Evangels also cleaned up their attacking errors, committing just 18 compared to Texas Wesleyan's 30.
• The Evangels had four hitters finish with double-digit kills as Mia Benson led the way with a career-high 15 kills. Seyi Atolagbe contributed 14 on a .444 attacking percentage while Madi Trayler added 11 on .333 ATK%. Marcela Nalin punched home 10 kills, including the final two points in the final set.
• Jasmine Liongco led distribution efforts with 26 assists, while adding 11 digs on the defensive end. Freshman Kristen Straughn tied her career-high with 23 assists.
• The reigning Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, Gracelynn Skaggs, led the Evangels defensively once again with 27 digs. Kaetlen Schier added 12 digs of her own.  
• MACU got back to .500 in conference play with a 6-6 record as the Evangels get a game back from a team ahead of them in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings. MACU still holds the eighth and final playoff spot but moved just one game back of seventh place with a two-game buffer over ninth.   
• Mid-America Christian defeated Texas Wesleyan for the first time inside the Gaulke Activity Center. The only other win the Evangels have over the Rams was a sweep down in Fort Worth in the 2024 season.    

 
UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian closes out the weekend at home as the Evangels host Sooner Athletic Conference leading Nelson on Saturday afternoon with first serve slated for 1 P.M. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.