ABILENE – The Abilene Christian volleyball team helped turn around its season thanks to a 5-1 run to begin October, but the schedule gets considerably tougher this weekend as the Wildcats visit No. 9 Angelo State and Tarleton State.
The Rambelles, at 18-3 overall and 11-1 within the league, begin the week in first place and a game ahead of the TexAnns (16-5, 10-2 LSC), while the Wildcats are in sixth following a 2-0 weekend that included 3-0 victories over Eastern New Mexico and No. 8 West Texas A&M. ACU's win vs. the Lady Buffs was its first since 2005.
Angelo and Tarleton both swept the Wildcats at Moody Coliseum last month, but ACU appears to now have a more confident group assembled on the court. After being humiliated during the last week of September at Kingsville and Incarnate Word, the Wildcats sprung to life during a 5-1 homestand and knocked off four conference teams in the process. They also shut out Texas-Permian Basin and suffered a difficult, 3-2, loss to Dallas Baptist.
ACU's mini-resurgence has taken place in all facets of its game. The offense, which finished the first month with a .124 attacking percentage, hit .230 during its two-week homestand and out-scored the opposition 390 to 296, while the defense blocked 42 shots and averaged close to 20 digs per sets.
Additionally, all five of ACU's primary attackers have hit better than .200 since the calendar flipped to October. Sophomore
Sara Oxford has registered the most kills (80) and points (89.5) over the last six matches with
Rachel Riley and Jennie Loerch close behind, but the Wildcats also have received remarkable consistency from senior
Kalynne Allen and freshman
Corrie Reeder.
Allen, this month, has a .340 attacking percentage (47-11-106) to go along with five service aces and seven blocks, and Reeder is hitting .283 (41-11-106) with a team-high 17 blocks.
Setter
Sarah Siemens also has been a force at the net with 14 blocks, and has settled in nicely with the offense as she's now averaging 10.32 assists per match to rank 36th in the nation.
Libero and freshman
Madison Hoover also is ranked among the national leaders in digs with 4.39 per set.
Winners of 13 of its last 14 matches, Angelo State's is currently on a five-game winning streak and its No. 9 ranking is the highest in program history.
The Rambelles are hitting at a .241 percentage this season, while opponents have been limited to a .119 percentage. Shelby Goode and Maddie Huth are two of ASU's top offensive weapons with 273 and 180 kills, respectively, and Huth also anchors the Rambelles' block by averaging 0.97 blocks per set.
Tarleton State also has won its last five and 16 of 18 with those two losses coming against Angelo State. The TexAnns are hitting .196 as a team and are averaging close to 12.5 kills and 2.5 blocks per set led primarily by Nikki McNorton and Katie Covell. McNorton is ranked among the national and conference leaders with 1.51 blocks per set.
Live statistics are available for both matches, but only
Friday night's match at Angelo State will be broadcast over the web.
