Mid-America Christian University

FORT WORTH, Texas – The MACU Volleyball team struggled to get its attack going in a tough road match inside the Sid Richardson Center and despite being able to take the opening set, Texas Wesleyan claimed the next three to hand the Evangels a tough 3-1 defeat.
 
SCORE

• Texas Wesleyan 3, Mid-America Christian 1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-19)
  • Mid-America Christian (4-4, 0-2 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (5-5, 2-0 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Seyi Atolagbe – 13 Kills, .267 ATK%, 4 Blocks
• Katie Stafford – 8 Kills, .250 ATK%, 3 Digs, 2 Blocks
• Kristen Straughn – 17 Assists, 9 Digs, 2 Kills, .333 ATK%
• Madison Lee – 15 Assists, 14 Digs
• Gracelyn Skaggs – 19 Digs, 7 Assists, 2 Aces

MATCH SUMMARY

• Set One
  • Texas Wesleyan started out with the early momentum, scoring three of the first four points before a Seyi Atolagbe side-out termination jumpstarted an 8-1 Evangels run capped off on three consecutive kills from Katie Stafford, Marcela Nalin, and Mia Benson to give MACU 9-4 lead.
  • While the Rams countered by scoring the next three, both teams traded runs before MACU pushed its lead out to five once again out of the media timeout off a TXWES attack error, making it 16-11.
  • Texas Wesleyan rattled off five in a row, tying it at 16-all on a Migdaly Bernal kill, but the Evangels took advantage of four Rams miscues to go with a pair of kills from Benson and Stafford to stretch the MACU edge to 22-18.
  • TXWES scored the next two points to close it back to a two-point game, but the Evangels scored three of the final four, including getting back-to-back kills from Stafford and Seyi Atolagbe to secure the 25-21 win.
• Set Two
  • While Mid-America Christian was able to seize the lead through the first eight rallies, Texas Wesleyan went on a massive run entering the midway point, scoring 10 of the next 11 points to seize a commanding 13-6 advantage.
  • The Rams hit into a pair of attack errors to briefly stop the run, but then followed it up with a 5-2 surge to stretch its lead out to 18-10 on a co-op block.
  • While a setter dump kill by Kristen Straughn and Atolagbe cut the MACU deficit to six at 18-12, Texas Wesleyan closed out the set by scoring seven of the final 10 points to secure the 25-15 set win and even that match up at 1-1.
• Set Three
  • The Evangels grabbed the early edge, scoring six of the first nine points with Kristen Straughn's setter dump kill giving MACU the three-point cushion.
  • However, Texas Wesleyan took advantage of three-straight MACU attack errors to ignite an 8-2 Rams surge, making it 11-9 on a Lillian Breaux service ace.
  • While the Evangels battled back to tie it at 12 and 13 on back-to-back Atolagbe kills and a setter dump kill by Madison Lee, but the Rams scored the next two to hold the 15-13 edge at the media timeout.
  • MACU was unable to close the deficit to less than two over the rest of the set as Texas Wesleyan held on for the 25-22 win after the Evangels survived three set points.
• Set Four
  • Both sides were relatively even through the first 15 rallies as Atolagbe's kill closed the deficit to 8-7. However, the Rams took a commanding advantage through the midway portion of the set, outscoring the Evangels 7-1 to make it a 15-8 lead going into the media timeout.
  • Texas Wesleyan took its largest lead of the set at 17-9 on a Vanya Palmeros kill, but the Evangels tried to fight back behind an 9-3 run to close the gap to 20-18 on a co-op block by Atolagbe and Madi Trayler, forcing the Rams to call a timeout.
  • Unfortunately, MACU was unable to close the gap any further as the Rams closed out with a 5-1 run to seal the 25-19 victory in the fourth set.

MATCH NOTES

• Both teams struggled in the attack as Texas Wesleyan recorded 48 kills and 26 errors for a .136 hitting percentage while Mid-America Christian tallied 41 kills and committed 28 errors for a .079 attack rate.
• One of the reasons for MACU's struggles in the attack was due to the TXWES blocking scheme as the Rams finished with 11 total blocks while the Evangels finished with six.
• The Evangels also struggled from the service line, scoring only four aces and committed nine service errors while the Rams tallied nine aces and eight errors for an 18-12 differential from the line.
• Seyi Atolagbe once again led the MACU attack as the lone Evangel with double-digit kills, scoring 13 on a .267 hitting percentage and also led the blocking scheme with four assisted blocks to finish with a team-high 15 points.
• Katie Stafford was also solid from the middle for the Evangels, tallying eight kills on a .250 hitting percentage and came away with two assisted blocks to notch nine points for the match.
• Kristen Straughn led the MACU distribution efforts with 17 assists and narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs while Madison Lee came away with a double-double after dishing out 15 assists and shoveling 14 digs.
• Gracelyn Skaggs led the back-row defense with 19 digs while Kaetlen Schier scooped 15 digs as well.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian's road swing will continue next weekend as it will head out west to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State on Friday with the match slated for a 6 p.m. first serve inside Anchor D Arena.