PENSACOLA, Fla. – When facing tough tests in sports, particularly in the postseason, it is vital for big name players to step up and make the big plays. On Saturday evening in the 2025 Gulf South Conference Volleyball Championship, that is exactly what Skias Hainline and Katilyn Grant did for the Trevecca Nazarene University Trojans.

Grant hit an impressive .390 in the match with 18 kills and only two errors on 41 attacks, and Hainline dished out 48 assists, posted 10 digs, and she had the match-ending kill at the net as the Trojans (22-8) out-lasted the University of Alabama in Huntsville Chargers (24-7) in five sets, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-9.

The 22 wins are the most for a Trojan squad since the 2012 team won 23. They are the 14th TNU squad in the 51 years of the program to reach 20+ wins in a season.

SERIES HISTORY 

The victory gives the Trojans the season series over the Chargers. Trevecca took a sweep over UAH in Huntsville on September 27 before UAH answered with a four set win in Nashville on October 24th. 

MATCH RECAP

The teams had to wait for nearly an hour after the scheduled match time to get going after the first semifinal match went the distance and beyond. When the match got going, UAH took four of the first five points before Trevecca answered with a 5-1 run that gave the Trojans the 6-5 lead. UAH answered with their own 5-1 spurt, but Trevecca rallied to tie the score at 11. Another 5-1 Trevecca run highlighted by kills from Hainline and Addison Cunnagin helped Trevecca take a 16-14 lead, and moments later, a kill from Reese Payne pushed the TNU lead to 19-16. Trevecca twice led by four, and Trevecca held on to take the opening set 25-23 on a kill from Kayla Bullard.

UAH raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second frame, but Grant had three kills as a part of a 6-1 run that helped push Trevecca out in front 7-6. The lead changed hands twice into the middle stages of the set, but a quick 3-0 run from UAH gave the Chargers a 13-11 lead. Successive kills from Isabella Sherrod and Mackenzie Martin helped Trevecca reclaim the advantage at 16-15, and the Trojans kept things close to the end. With the score tied at 22, though, UAH took three of the final four points of the set to level the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 set win of their own.

The teams split the first six points of the third frame evenly, but a kill from Grant, an ace from Ellie Marbet, and a pair of blocks gave Trevecca a 7-4 lead. UAH ran off a 6-1 run to reclaim the advantage at 10-8, but the Trojans answered with a 7-2 spurt to take a 16-13 lead. UAH knotted the score at 19, but that was all the Chargers were able to do in the set, as the Trojans won six of the final eight points of the frame, and it was Grant that put the finishing touches on the 25-21 set win with a kill that put the Trojans up 2-1 in the match.

Trevecca won five of the first seven points of set four, but UAH answered with a 6-1 run to take an 8-6 edge. After the teams each won four of the next eight points, it was UAH that inched in front with a 4-1 run that gave the Chargers a 16-14 lead. Trevecca notched two more blocks in winning the next four points, but a 4-1 spurt from UAH gave the Chargers the lead back at 20-19. Trevecca managed to tie the match twice in the waning stages of the frame, but the Trojans were unable to reclaim the lead, and UAH took the win 25-23 to force a decisive fifth stanza.

The Chargers roared out of the gate by winning the first three points of the final set, but Trevecca answered back emphatically. Trevecca won nine of the next 10 points, led by two kills from Grant, one from Martin, a pair of aces from Bullard, and a block from Grant and Hainline. Suddenly, the Trojans had a 9-4 lead, and even a 4-0 run out of a timeout was not enough to get UAH even again. Trevecca answered the 4-0 UAH run with five unanswered points to earn a match point opportunity, and while UAH was able to fend off the first chance, Hainline converted the kill on the overpass to end the match with a 15-9 set win that gave the Trojans the 3-2 match victory. 

TROJAN HIGHLIGHTS

•  Katilyn Grant led the Trojans with 18 kills, and she was involved in nine of the Trojans' 13 blocks in the match. Mackenzie Martin added 15 kills, and while she was the only other Trojan in double-figures, Bullard chipped in nine kills, and Cunnagin recorded seven.
• Skias Hainline handed out 48 assists, and she is now only 12 assists shy of tying the Trevecca single-season assists record. The current record is 1,168, and it is held by Loren Bennett who set the mark in 2015. Hainline is also now within 200 assists of the Trojans' career mark, also held by Bennett at 2,678. Hainline added 10 digs which gave her a 14th double-double on the season.
• Lilly Vanbebber led the Trojans with 29 digs in the match, and she is now within 12 of the TNU single-season mark of 560 which also belongs to Bennett from 2015. Isabella Sherrod and Kayla Bullard each had 14 digs, and Cunnagin added 10 in the match as well.
• Trevecca notched four solo blocks as a team in the match - two by Katilyn Grant and two by Reese Payne - and that set a new single-season best in the NCAA-era of the program. The Trojans now have 64 solo blocks on the season, surpassing the old mark of 63 which was set in 2012.

UP NEXT  

Trevecca advances to the GSC Championship title match on Sunday, where the Trojans will get a third shot at the University of West Florida Argonauts (26-5). The previous two matches this season were won in four sets by UWF. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday.

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