Wildcats split season-opening matches in Austin

Friday, August 31

Austin, TX

11 a.m.

Abilene Christian

St. Edward's

Photo by: Jeremy Enlow

Wildcats split season-opening matches in Austin

8/31/2012 9:26:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

AUSTIN -- The ACU Wildcats split their season-opening matches of the 2012 season Friday at the Hilltopper / Rattler Volleyball Classic.

The Wildcats (1-1) opened the season with a 3-1 loss to St. Edward's early Friday before bouncing back with a 3-0 win over former Lone Star Conference opponent Southwestern Oklahoma State. Both of ACU's matches on Friday were at the Recreation and Convocation Center on the St. Edward's campus.

The Wildcats lost to St. Edward's, 25-13, 25-13, 24-26, 25-17, before bouncing back to beat Southwestern Oklahoma State, 25-23, 25-13, 25-21.

ACU will return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. when it takes on Colorado State-Pueblo at the Bill Greehey Arena on the St. Mary's campus in San Antonio. The Wildcats will finish up their run in the tournament Saturday at 5 p.m. when they take on Southeastern Oklahoma State at St. Mary's.

In the Wildcats' win over Southwestern Oklahoma State, freshman Jennie Loerch led the Wildcats with 12 kills to go along with eight digs. Sophomores Sara Oxford and Rachel Riley each had 10 kills, while freshman Corrie Reeder had eight kills and didn't commit a hitting error.

The Wildcats hit .252 as a team in the match, including .375 in a dominating win in the second set. Freshman Sarah Siemens -- who started in the season-opener against St. Edward's -- had 40 assists, three kills, seven digs and two block assists against Southwestern Oklahoma.

In their season-opening loss to the Hilltoppers, the Wildcats hit .096, committing 29 errors on 156 total attacks with 44 kills. Oxford led the Wildcats with 17 kills on 55 total attacks, but she also had 11 attack errors. Loerch had eight kills on 39 attack errors, but she had 10 errors for a negative .051 hitting percentage in the match.

ACU hit .030 in the first set, .000 in the second set, .148 in the third set and .136 in the fourth set. St. Edward's, meanwhile, hit .250 and .280 in the first two sets, respectively, as the Hilltoppers won both of those sets by 25-13 scores.