New Braunfels, Texas — East Texas Baptist seniors Connor Massimini and Graycee Mosley have been selected as the 2025-26 American Southwest Conference Athletes of the Year, the conference office announced Thursday.
The ASC Athlete of the Year Award recognizes one male and one female student-athlete whose athletic accomplishments made the greatest contribution to their sport, institution, and the conference during the past academic year.
Mosley becomes the fourth consecutive East Texas Baptist student-athlete to earn ASC Female Athlete of the Year honors. The hitter helped lead the Tigers to the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship Quarterfinals and concluded her career as East Texas Baptist's all-time leader in kills.
Massimini helped lead East Texas Baptist baseball to one of the most successful seasons in program history, capped off with a trip to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. The Tigers finished among the nation's top teams, while Massimini earned First Team All-ASC honors after posting standout numbers throughout the season.
Supporting information was provided by the institutions' sports information directors.
Connor Massimini | East Texas Baptist | Senior | Baseball
Massimini helped ETBU to one of its finest years in baseball, with 40 wins and a run to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, finishing as one of the top four teams in the nation. He earned two All-American awards, being on the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American Third Team and the D3baseball.com All-American Fourth Team as an outfielder. Both ABCA and D3baseball.com voted him All-Region First Team, as he was an All-ASC First Team selection and made the ASC All-Tournament team. Finishing the year with 16 home runs and 61 RBI to lead the ASC, he recorded a .342 batting average in 53 games played and started with 12 doubles and a .658 slugging percentage. In 16 games, he had 2+ RBI and hits, too. His offensive numbers helped ETBU to the ASC Regular Season and Tournament Championships, the NCAA Division III Regional and Super Regional Championships, and to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.
He had a major impact on ETBU’s offense this season with key hits. In the Super Regional Championship game vs. No. 2 Lynchburg, he hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game at two. That started a five-run inning, with two home runs by his teammates coming after his, as ETBU won its second Super Regional Championship in four years. Ending No. 1 Denison’s 44-game winning streak, he went 2-of-4 in the upset, 5-1, win. Hosting the NCAA Marshall, Texas Regional Tournament in the opening round, ETBU was trailing Concordia Texas, 5-4, when he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning to put ETBU up, 8-5, as they went on to win, 9-6. In the ASC Tournament, he hit .445 with three RBI. One of his best games of the year came on March 24 when he hit two home runs vs. LeTourneau, going 4-of-5 for seven RBI and three runs scored.
ETBU set a program record with 21 consecutive wins, starting on March 31 and going to May 22 before being defeated in game two of the Super Regionals by No. 2 Lynchburg. ETBU went 14-0 in April as he had two 14-game hitting streaks in the season. ETBU won their second consecutive ASC Tournament Championship and third in four years, along with their third NCAA Regional Championship in four years.
For his career, he is a three-time ABCA All-Region Selection, ABCA and D3baseball.com All-American, three-time All-ASC award winner, three-time ASC Hitter of the Week, made the D3baseball.com Team of the Week once, and an ASC All-Tournament Team member. He won three ASC Tournament Championships, three NCAA Regional Championships, four ASC Regular Season Championships, two Super Regional Championships, and played in two NCAA Division III National Championship Tournaments. He leaves ETBU with a .329 batting average, 118 games played with 104 games started, 118 runs scored, 126 hits, 24 doubles, 30 home runs, and 116 RBI.
Graycee Mosley | East Texas Baptist | Senior | Volleyball
Mosley guided ETBU to its finest year in program history, as the Tigers earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament and won the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament, along with the ASC Regular Season and Tournament Championship. She was voted to the AVCA All-American First Team, won the NCAA Elite Academic Award as top student-athlete at the 2026 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, was a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American First Team member, and was voted the CSC’s Division III Volleyball’s Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for 2025 as the top academic volleyball student-athlete in NCAA Division III. She becomes the first American Southwest Conference volleyball student-athlete to win this award. A biochemistry major who graduated from ETBU in December 2025, she finished with a 4.0 GPA, helping ETBU reach its first-ever Elite 8.
This year, she became ETBU’s all-time career kill leader with 2,032 kills, was named an AVCA First Team All-American, the NCAA Medford Regional Tournament Most Outstanding Player, the ASC Tournament MVP, and the ASC Player of the Year. She finished fourth in the NCAA in total kills (532), 10th in kills per set (4.59), and 16th in total attacks (1,236). Earning eight ASC Player of the Week Awards, she was on the AVCA All-Region First Team and was the AVCA National Player of the Week while being named to the All-ASC First Team. ETBU went 34-1, winning its third-straight American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship and reaching the No. 1 national ranking. They broke several program records, including the longest win streak at 34 matches, and won the program’s and ASC’s first-ever NCAA Division III Regional Tournament.
Academically, she made the President’s List all four years, was in the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, graduated Summa Cum Laude, and was the Outstanding Graduating Senior for the ETBU Chemistry Department. She has volunteered locally at several organizations, including Marshall ISD, where she has helped with the Fall Festival and Morning High 5’s, served as a volunteer PE teacher, and read at the Elementary schools. At Longview's New Beginnings Church, she volunteered at the Back-to-School Bash and the For the City Project. Her time in Marshall has also included Mission Marshall, Tim Tebow’s Night to Shine, a Mission Trip to Chile, ETBU Serve Day, several Special Needs Nights for volleyball, volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club, and serving as a Pen Pal for Compassion International.
She leaves ETBU as a four-time AVCA All-American and an All-Region First Team selection, earning First Team All-American honors in 2024 and 2025. She is a three-time CSC Academic All-American, being named to the First Team the past two years. The only four-time ASC Player of the Year, she won two ASC Tournament MVPs and holds the record for most career Player of the Week awards for any ASC sport at 20. She is the ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete winner for both volleyball and track and field and will be a four-time ASC All-Academic team member. The four-year starter led ETBU to three American Southwest Tournament Championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances, and one NCAA Regional Championship.