#21 Wildcats rally for 3-2 win

Thursday, October 14

Wichita Falls, TX

7 pm

Abilene Christian

Midwestern State

Photo by: Willis Glassgow

10/14/2010 10:19:34 PM | Women's Volleyball

WICHITA FALLS – Senior setter E.J. Moronu recorded the first triple-double of her career Thursday night to help the No. 21 ACU Wildcats rally from down two sets to a 3-2 win over Midwestern State in Lone Star Conference volleyball action at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

The win is the Wildcats' fifth straight as they pushed their record to 18-3 overall and 7-0 in the LSC. The Mustangs, meanwhile, fall to 10-9 and 4-3. ACU will be back in action Saturday in Lawton, Okla., when it takes on Cameron at 2 p.m. in Aggie Gym.

Moronu finished with 51 assists, 24 digs and 10 block assists in the best overall performance of her fine career. Jennie Hutt finished with 16 kills and 13 digs, while Jordan Schilling had 10 kills and 15 digs. Freshman Neely Borger had 12 kills for the Wildcats.

ACU, one of the top blocking teams in the nation, had 14 total blocks in the come-from-behind victory.

Midwestern came out on fire and took the first two sets of the match by the scores of 25-18 and 25-22, putting the Wildcats on the ropes. But the Wildcats answered by winning the final three sets, 28-26, 25-22, 15-13, to take the match.

MSU had match point in the third set at 24-23, but a kill by Shawna Hines evened the score at 24-24. A kill by Moronu gave ACU match point, but MSU tied the set at 25-25 on a kill by Miranda Byrd, and then took a 26-25 lead on a kill by Karolina Damjanovic.

But a Jordan Schilling kill staved off another match point, tying the match at 26-26. A kill by Jennie Hutt gave ACU a 27-26 lead, and an attack error by Caitlin Wallace gave the Wildcats the 28-26 win.

In the fourth set, the Wildcats fell behind 5-1 before rallying to tie the set at 7-7. It was a see-saw set from that point on with neither team taking more than a three-point lead.

With the set tied at 22-22, the Wildcats ran off the final three points of the set to knot the match at two sets apiece.

The Mustangs led the fifth set throughout, but never had more than a three-point lead. The lead was 12-10 after a kill by Damjanovic before a kill by Hutt, an attack error by Hillary White and a kill by ACU freshman Madelyn Robinett gave the Wildcats a 13-12 lead.

After MSU's Shelbi Stewart tied the match at 13-13 with a kill, MSU's Kimberly Jeffrey had a service error to give the Wildcats a 14-13 lead. Robinett then finished it off with a kill to give the Wildcats the set and the match.