ABILENE – Winners of five of their last six, including their last five at home, the Abilene Christian Wildcats will look to keep moving up the conference standings when they play host to Tarleton State Tuesday at 7 p.m. for the annual Dig Pink match.
All fans in attendance are encouraged to purchase a pink t-shirt for $10 with contributions going to the Make a Wish Foundation. Members of ACU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be on hand to sell the shirts.
The Wildcats begin the week with an overall record of 15-11 and are 9-5 within the Lone Star Conference, 1.0 game ahead of the rival TexAnns, who it beat 3-1 on the road on Oct. 15. ACU dropped the first set of that match, 14-25, before rallying to win the next three: 25-21, 25-20, 25-22. The Wildcats hit .237 led by
Jennie Hutt's 18 kills and error-free performances from
Neely Borger and
Rachel Riley.
ACU has continued to play well since that date – with its lone defeat coming in five sets at No. 17 Angelo State last Tuesday – but over the weekend it scored a pair of dramatic victories that left the Wildcats feeling energized afterward. The Wildcats started the weekend with a 3-0 win over Lions in which all three games were decided by two points, and then finished it by scoring the final three points in the fifth set over Texas Woman's.
Several personal and team bests were established during last week's set of games, most notably of which was senior
Kelsie Edwards tying her career single-match high with 35 digs at Angelo State. The Wildcats' all-time digs leaders with 1746 last recorded that many digs - the seventh highest total in ACU history – on Oct. 14, 2010 vs. Midwestern State.
Because the match vs. Commerce was a high scoring and competitive one, Hutt was able to reset several three-set season records by recording 19 kills on 48 attempts, while freshman setter
Haley Rhoads served up 51 assists.
Rhoads has registered 50 or more assists over the last three matches, and since taking over the setter position on a full-time basis ACU is 8-4 and hitting 25 points better than the opposition (.208 to .103). She is averaging 9.62 assists per set this season.
Hutt, meanwhile, continues to climb ACU's all-time leaders list in kills, and is 30 behind Misti Germany (1444) for sixth place to start the week. Her current tally of 389 kills are a personal season best, but she remains 95 away from cracking the ACU top-ten list for most kills in a single season.
As a team, ACU's 15.0 blocks vs. Texas Woman's were its most of the year, while the 58 kills and 58 assists recorded vs. Commerce were its most in the three-set match.
Neely Borger led the block vs. Pioneers with a season best 9.0 rejections.
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