ACU whips WTAM, 3-0
9/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
ACU whips West Texas A&M, 3-0
ACU's win snaps 22-match losing streak to Lady Buffs
ABILENE -- After 11 years, 22 matches and countless disappointments, the albatross has finally been removed from the ACU Wildcats.
Thursday night at Moody Coliseum, ACU snapped a 22-match losing streak to West Texas A&M with a 30-19, 30-22, 30-22 win over the Lady Buffs in the Lone Star Conference South Division opener for both teams.
The win is the first for the Wildcats over the Lady Buffs since Oct. 8, 1993. Since that match, the Wildcats had lost 22 straight matches, losing 67-7 in games.
But that was all put in the past Thursday night as the Wildcats dominated the Lady Buffs from the outset in winning their ninth straight match to improve to 15-5 overall.
The key to the match was the first game. West Texas A&M actually jumped out to a lead as the Wildcats -- playing a little anxious in front of a large crowd -- fell behind 15-11. But the Wildcats reeled off six straight pionts with five of those coming with freshman Liz Snoddy serving. Ashlee Motola -- who had 12 kills in the match -- had three straight kills in the run that pushed ACU to a 17-15 lead.
After a kill by Cynthia Carter of WTAM made it a 17-16 ACU lead, te Wildcats got the serve right back on a servic error by Erin Houlihan. With sophomore Malia Plumlee serving, the Wildcats ran off eight straight points to take a 26-16 lead. The Lady Buffs didn't help themselves with four errors in the run.
But the Wildcats finished off the game behind a kill by Callie Delabano to take a 1-0 lead.
"Winning the first game was huge," said ACU senior libero Kellen Morrow, who had suffered through six straight defeats to West Texas A&M. "We had to set a tone, and we did that in the first game."
"We couldn't put ourselves in a corner against them, which meant we had to win the first game," said ACU head coach Brek Horn, whose team was picked to finish second in the LSC South Division behind WTAM in the league's pre-season poll.
The Wildcats never trailed in either of the last two games as they closed out the match in three straight games, the first time West Texas A&M has lost to an LSC opponent in three straight games since it lost to Eastern New Mexico in 1995.
The second game was close throughout before ACU turned a 19-18 lead to a 24-19 lead behind two kills by Motola and one each from Michelle Bernhardt and Sophia Kindred. The Wildcats closed it out with three straight points behind the serve of Lindsey Martin, who finished the game with an ace.
ACU led 10-8 in the third game when Morrow served the Wildcats to three straight points and a 12-8 led. After a Lady Buff point, Snoddy served the Wildcats to four straight points to make it a 17-9 lead. The Lady Buffs would not get closer than five points the rest of the way, and the game ended on a Lady Buff error.
The Wildcats will return to action Saturday at 11 a.m. with an important match against Eastern New Mexico at Moody Coliseum.
