COMMERCE, TEXAS – The Abilene Christian women's volleyball team defeated Lone Star Conference rival Texas A&M-Commerce 3-1 Thursday night on the road at The Field House. Senior outside hitter
Jennie Hutt led all players with 20 kills as the Wildcats improved to 7-4 overall and 3-0 within the conference.
Commerce's record dropped to 2-4 (1-3 LSC) following the loss.
ACU won by scores of 25-19, 17-25, 25-19 and 27-25. In winning the fourth set, the Wildcats scored eight of the final 10 points after trailing by as many as six with the score at 15-9. The Wildcats' rally started with kills from
Sara Oxford,
Kalynne Allen and
Rachel Riley followed by an attacking error that forced Commerce into a time out.
The pause in action provided the Lions a temporary boost as they closed within two points of the set victory at 23-19, but the Wildcats again scratched their way back in scoring the next five points. Hutt recorded two kills during this stretch, and then put away two more that clinched the victory after Commerce tied it one last time at 25-25.
Hutt posted a .306 hitting percentage in committing just five errors on 49 attempts in lifting her season average to a team-best .288. Allen and Oxford each contributed eight kills, with Riley and
Neely Borger both chipping in seven. Borger also played a role in four of the Wildcats' six blocks.
Haley Rhoads and
Caley Johnson combined for 41 assists splitting time at the setter position, and on defense, both
Kelsie Edwards and
Madelyn Robinett recorded double-digit dig totals with 12 and 10, respectively.
ACU's fourth set resiliency was prefaced by a pair of late scoring runs in sets No. 1 and 3. In the first set after Commerce tied it at 15-15, the Wildcats finished on a 10-4 run with Allen recording three points on two kills and a solo block. The Lions didn't help themselves either by making two critical errors after trimming the ACU lead to 22-19.
Commerce players committed 22 attacking errors in giving them a .147 hitting percentage. The Lions also were charged with four blocking errors.
The third set witnessed 10 ties, but after Commerce took its final lead at 19-17 the Wildcats won eight consecutive points to claim a 2-1 advantage. Six of those points were earned off Lion miscues, plus Riley added a kill and Edwards delivered a service ace.
The Lions led from start to finish in the second set, but at one point watched their nine-point lead reduced to three after the Wildcats won seven of eight points near the halfway mark. Commerce responded, however, with a 9-4 run to wrap the set and tie the match at 1-1.
Rachel Robertson paced the Commerce attack with 17 kills, five service aces and four block assists in finishing with a game-high 25.0 points.
ACU continues its three-game conference road trip Saturday vs. Texas Woman's University at 2 p.m.
