Mid-America Christian University

AUSTIN, Texas – The MACU Volleyball team opened its 2026 season with a pair of downright dominant performances at the Barnaby's Italian Ice Invitational hosted by Huston-Tillotson on Thursday night as the Evangels cruised to a pair of 3-0 victories over the host and Health Sciences & Pharmacy of St. Louis inside Branch Gymnasium.
 
MATCH ONE / Mid-America Christian vs. Huston-Tillotson
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Huston-Tillotson 0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-14)
  • Mid-America Christian (1-0)
  • Huston-Tillotson (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morgan Cross – 8 Kills, .571 ATK%
• Madi Trayler – 7 Kills, .545 ATK%
• Seyi Atolagbe – 7 Kills, .545 ATK%, 2 Blocks
• Jasmine Liongco – 14 Assists, 4 Digs, 2 Aces
• Kristen Straughn – 12 Assists, 2 Kills
• Gracelyn Skaggs – 9 Digs, 5 Assists, 4 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian came out firing right out of the gate by scoring four of the first five points before Huston-Tillotson strung together a 6-1 run to take its first and only lead of the set at 7-5.
  • Abby Conaway helped stem the tide for the Evangels as she came up with a side-out kill and tallied four terminations in a five-point MACU run, eventually stretching the edge out to 14-10 midway through the set.
  • HTU battled back to close it to a one-point game at 15-14 on Brandi Edmonds kill, but Seyi Atolagbe's side-out kill and back-to-back Gracelyn Skaggs service aces jumpstarted a 7-2 Evangels surge with Morgan Cross' swing making it 22-16 late.
  • The Rams couldn't cut their deficit to any less than four the rest of the way as the Evangels sealed the 25-20 result.
• Set Two
  • A similar start to the opening set, MACU started the second with a 7-2 run, including a string of four in a row with a kill apiece coming off the hands of Atolagbe, Madi Trayler, and Conaway. However, HTU answered right back with a 6-1 surge of their own to tie it up at 8-8 on a Hailey Broussard termination.
  • Mia Benson swung the momentum back in MACU's favor in a big way as her side-out kill started an 8-2 streak that allowed the Evangels to secure a 16-10 advantage entering into the second half of the set.
  • After three consecutive side-outs, Mid-America Christian took care of business following Cross' side-out kill as the Evangels finished with an 8-2 run to wrap-up a strong 25-14 win.
• Set Three
  • The two sides were relatively even through the first 10 rallies as Huston-Tillotson seized a slim 6-4 advantage on back-to-back MACU attack errors.
  • However, a Madison Herrera service error took the wind out of HTU's sails as the Evangels took advantage of their service, stringing together an 11-2 surge that included five service aces, three of which from Kaetlen Schier and a pair from Jasmine Liongco to make it 15-8.
  • While the Rams scored three of the next four to close the gap to five, a setter dump kill by Liongco completely shifted momentum back in the Evangels' favor to close out the match, winning nine of the last 12 rallies to wrap-up a second-straight 25-14 result.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian cruised by recording 39 kills to only nine attack errors for a .411 hitting percentage while Huston-Tillotson could only tally 20 kills with 15 errors for a .072 attack rate. It was MACU's best hitting clip since notching a .467 in a 3-0 sweep at Langston on Oct. 17, 2023.
• The Evangels attack was spread out across the board with four players finishing with at least six kills, led by freshman Morgan Cross in her MACU debut with eight on a stellar .571 hitting percentage.
• Playing her first competitive collegiate volleyball in three years due to injury, senior Abby Conaway also finished with a match-high eight kills on a .250 clip.
• A pair of returning sophomores put up monster numbers on the night with Madi Trayler terminating seven kills on a .545 attack percentage while the reigning SAC Freshman of the Year Seyi Atolagbe picked up where she left off with six kills on a .545 rate as well.
• Jasmine Liongco and Kristen Straughn were strong from the setter position in their MACU debuts, tallying 14 and 12 assists respectively.
• Also making her MACU debut, junior libero Gracelyn Skaggs led the back row efforts with nine digs while Atolagbe notched a pair of block assists at the net.
• It was a great night at the service line for Kaetlen Schier and Skaggs as they each finished with five and four aces to combine for nine of MACU's 12 aces as a team.
• With the victory, the Evangels notched their first ever win against Huston-Tillotson. The only other time the two teams played came back on Aug. 24, 2019 when the Rams pulled out a scrappy 3-2 win at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City.

MATCH TWO / Mid-America Christian vs. Health Sciences & Pharmacy
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Health Sciences & Pharmacy 0 (25-7, 25-11, 25-18)
  • Mid-America Christian (2-0)
  • Health Sciences & Pharmacy (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Abby Conaway – 14 Kills, .684 ATK%, 2 Blocks, 2 Digs
• Ava Stewart – 8 Kills, .400 ATK%
• Morgan Cross – 7 Kills, .333 ATK%, 2 Digs
• Seyi Atolagbe – 6 Kills, .625 ATK%
• Jasmine Liongco – 25 Assists, 4 Digs, 3 Kills, 3 Aces
• Gracelyn Skaggs – 16 Digs, 7 Assists, 2 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Mid-America Christian started the contest on-fire, scoring on the first 10 rallies with Seyi Atolagbe tallying three kills with Morgan Cross adding two and Jasmine Liongco tallying a pair of aces.
  • While a service error eventually ended the run, the Evangels responded by scoring 10 of the next 11 rallies as Madi Trayler put down a kill to make it an insurmountable 20-2 lead.
  • Even though the Eutectics rattled off five unanswered, UHSP committed five-straight errors to wrap-up the 25-7 final.
• Set Two
  • Health Sciences scored four of the first six rallies to start the second, but MACU swung back by taking seven of the next eight as Cross' ace gave MACU the 8-5 advantage.
  • The Eutectics managed to close it back to a one-point game at 8-7 before Abby Conaway's trio of terminations helped string together a run with five consecutive kills before a Gracelyn Skaggs ace doubled up the lead to 14-7.
  • After three-straight side-out points, Mid-America Christian closed out the set in dominant fashion, out-scoring UHSP 10-2 to secure a 25-11 victory.
• Set Three
  • Both sides were evenly matched through the first eight rallies, back-to-back Ava Stewart slams started a 4-0 run to make it an 8-4 contest.
  • Following back-to-back Eutectics points, consecutive Conway kills allowed the Evangels to score six in a row to seize a 14-6 advantage midway through the set.
  • UHSP made one last massive run to eventually close the gap to only one at 16-15, the Evangels answered back with four in a row to eventually close out the match by scoring nine of the final 12 points. Conaway finished it out by getting the match point kill to wrap-up the 25-18 final.

MATCH SUMMARY

• After hitting .411 in its first match of the day, Mid-America Christian executed at an even better clip against the Eutectics, smashing 47 kills with nine errors on a .413 hitting percentage while Health Sciences mustered only 16 kills and 15 errors on a .012 clip.
• Abby Conaway led the hitting efforts with 14 kills on a .684 hitting clip while Ava Stewart took advantage of her opportunities off the bench, putting down eight kills on a .400 attack rate.
• Morgan Cross also put together a highly efficient match in the attack, putting down seven kills on a .333 while Seyi Atolagbe continues to hit on an incredibly efficient clip, posting six kills on a .625.
• Jasmine Liongco led the distribution efforts with 25 assists to go with three perfectly executed setter dump kills and two aces.
• Defensively, Gracelyn Skaggs locked down the back row, shoveling 16 digs on a 5.33 per set clip.
• Mid-America Christian improved to 2-0 all-time against Health Sciences & Pharmacy, getting the first win in a 25-16, 26-24, 25-20 match on Sept. 2, 2023 in Point Lookout, Mo.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up the Barnaby's Italian Ice Invitational on Friday with an 11:30 am match against Avila (Mo.) and Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) at 7 pm.