Wildcats fall to Jennies, 3-2

Thursday, November 17

Warrensburg, MO

7:30 p.m.

Abilene Christian

Central Missouri

Photo by: Sarah Glenn

11/17/2011 9:56:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The ACU Wildcats gave the nation's sixth-ranked team all it wanted Thursday night, but it was Central Missouri that escaped the UCM Multipurpose Building with a 3-2 win in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Region volleyball tournament.

The Wildcats won the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-21, before losing the next three, 25-8, 25-14 and 15-7, to see their season end in the regional tournament in Missouri for the second straight season.

Head coach Kellen Mock's young team – which started three freshmen for much of the season – finishes its 2011 campaign at 21-14. Central Missouri improves to 28-4 on the season and moves on to face Angelo State at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the tournament semifinals.

Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year, Sarah Oxford, led the Wildcats with 13 kills and hit .367 in the match, while senior Jennie Hutt – in the last match of her ACU career – had 10 kills and 12 digs. Senior libero Kelsie Edwards – ACU's all-time leader in career digs – finished the night with 29 digs to lead the Wildcat defense.

The Wildcats took charge in the first two sets, thanks to an offense that hit .325 and had 28 kills against just five attack errors. ACU never trailed in the first set and finished the 25-22 win with a kill by Kalynne Allen.

The Jennies got a quick upper hand in the second game, pushing their lead to 15-8 on a kill by Taylor Goodness. But ACU rallied, outscoring the Jennies 17-6 the rest of the way to take the unlikely 25-21 win and the improbable 2-0 lead.

But from there on out, the Jennies proved why they're the nation's sixth-ranked team and top-seeded team in the regional tournament. They outscored ACU 65-29 over the last three sets and hit a combined .374 over the final three sets.

The Jennies, in fact, committed just five total attack errors in the final three sets while collecting 39 kills. ACU, meanwhile, had 18 errors and 20 kills and hit .023 in the final three sets.

Central Missouri senior Allie Huffman – the region's Player of the Year – led the Jennies with 16 kills and 11 digs, while Goodness also had 16 kills and a .368 attack percentage. Paula Harris and Bradye Peniston each had 14 kills for the Jennies, while Julia Bates had 53 assists, five kills, nine digs and four blocks from the setter position.