ABILENE – The Abilene Christian volleyball team completed a successful 3-0 homestand Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum, rallying from four down in the fourth set to score a dramatic 3-1 victory over Tarleton State.
The Wildcats won by scores of 25-23, 17-25, 25-20 and 26-24 in improving to 16-11 overall and 10-5 within the Lone Star Conference. The loss dropped the TexAnns to 14-13 and 8-7, 2.0 games behind ACU in the conference standings.
The match appeared to be headed for a fifth set after Tarleton scored five straight points in grabbing a 23-19 lead, but three consecutive attacking errors brought ACU back within one at 23-22. Then, after a Wildcat error gave the TexAnns a two-point cushion, ACU received a timely kill from freshman
Sara Oxford and a big block from
Jennie Hutt and
Neely Borger that tied the game a fourth time at 24-24.
The next point gave ACU the lead for good, coming on a hustle play that's become symbolic of the Wildcats' second half of the season
After both sides were unsuccessful in their first attacks following
Kelsie Edwards' serve, Tarleton's Flynn Harrell tapped a sinker into the front court, but a Wildcat defender slipped a hand underneath the ball, looping it in front of several stunned TexAnns who fumbled the ensuing reception.
The Tarleton coaching staff immediately protested the point, but the officials decided to uphold their original call after conferring.
“It was difficult to see if was Kalynne or Jennie who pancaked it,” Edwards said, “but give them both credit for not giving up on the point. Even though there's a long way to go this season, I think we're peaking at the right time.”
The Wildcats are 9-4 since starting the year 7-7, and Tuesday night's win was their sixth in the last seven matches.
ACU was led on offense by Oxford who tied a career high with 20 kills on 42 attempts, giving her a team best hitting percentage of .333. Oxford registered six kills in the decisive fourth game, but really rattled some cages on the Tarleton sideline in game one as she delivered four consecutive points that broke a 19-19 tie and forced the TexAnns into spending both their timeouts.
From there, Tarleton scored three of the next four points to get back within one at 24-23, but the six-foot Oxford and five-foot-nine Hutt blocked Nikki McNorton's shot in giving ACU an early 1-0 lead.
Oxford played a role on four of ACU's nine blocks, including one solo effort, while reigning conference defensive player of the week
Neely Borger was credited with five rejections.
After winning big in the second set, 25-17, the TexAnns were in position to grab a 2-1 lead until they completely came apart late in game three by committing four errors, three of which were unforced. An error by Harrell put ACU up 22-20, and then consecutive miscues by McNorton brought the Wildcats to set point. Harrell tried valiantly to keep her team in the game with a hot shot at the net, but it was blocked right back by Borger and setter
Haley Rhoads.
Rhoads finished the match with her fourth-straight output of 50 or more assists, and dug out nine balls in addition to earning to the block assist.
A freshman, Rhoades credits the team's success to intense practices that have closely mirrored recent games, including all three played on this homestand.
“I feel like what we've been working on in practice has been showing up in games,” she said. “We even perform a drill where we're down four points and have to score six in-a-row to win…and we do it over and over again. It brings out a lot of intensity.”
ACU hit .170 as a team to .167 for Tarleton, which was led offensively by McNorton (12 kills, 11 errors) and Stacie Murrah (13 kills, .286 hitting percentage). The TexAnns also utilized two setters, Jesse Hartman and Danielle Barker, who finished with 24 and 21 assists, respectively.
In addition to Oxford's 20 kills, Hutt registered a double-double of 15 kills (.231) and 13 digs as she was frequently targeted off the serve in the later sets. Edwards dug out 20 balls to lead the Wildcats, followed by Hutt and Allen with 13, and Madelyn Robinette with 12.
The Wildcats return to action this weekend with matches at West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico. Start times are Thursday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST).
