Box Score
ABILENE - The final box score from Saturday's match showed the Abilene Christian volleyball team with more blocks, fewer errors and a better hitting percentage than Sam Houston State, but somehow it all wasn't enough to prevent three late Bearkat rallies as they pulled out a nail-biting 3-2 victory over the Wildcats at Moody Coliseum.
The Bearkats (10-7, 7-1 Southland) won the first set, 25-23, but then lost the next two games by scores of 25-16 and 27-25. ACU (5-11, 1-7 Southland), however, was unable to capture the upset victory, losing set four, 26-24, and the decisive game five, 15-12.
ACU played well near the end of the fourth set and carried some of its momentum into the fifth set in building leads of 3-0 and 8-5 when the teams switched ends of the court. But coming out of that break, the Bearkats went off on a 6-1 run that gave them their first lead of the game at 11-9.
The Wildcats came back once more to tie the score at 11-11 on a service ace by senior
Madelyn Robinett, but the Bearkats countered with consecutive kills by Devene Wells-Gibson, who delivered 28 kills on 95 attempts - the last of which was the match-winner. She also had a solo block and service ace in finishing with a match-high 30.0 points.
Sam Houston State hit .150 as a team and received 21 additional kills from the combination of Haley Neisler and Lauren Bohlen, but where the Bearkats really won this game was on defense as they dug out close to half (99) of ACU's 204 attempts. In addition to the 19 diggs from outside hitter Wells-Gibson, SHSU libero Breanna Homer dug out 22 attacks and Morgan O'Brien came up with 21. Two other Bearkats, including setter Tayler Gray (52 assists), also posted a double-digit dig total.
As for the Wildcats, they hit marginally better than the Bearkats (.167) on ten fewer attempts and received another solid performance freshman
Lexi Mercier who hit .435 with 12 kills and five blocks. Unfortunately for ACU, many of her teammates were held under .200 hitting even though all were given in excess of 20 attempts. Â
Sophomore
Jennifer Loerch led all Wildcats with 18 kills, but also had nine errors on 65 attempts (.138), while Mercier and
Erica Lambert (.194) were tied with 12 kills.
Lambert scored an additional 2.5 points on the block and junior
Neely Borger was part of six, including one solo block. On the season, ACU has outblocked its opposition in 11 of 16 matches and continues to lead the conference in this category with a 2.42 per set average.
Game one had a nightmarish quality to it for the Wildcats as they led from right from the very start until the very end when the Bearkats scored the final four points with ACU holding onto what seemed to be a secure 23-21 lead. An attack error by Robinett brought the serve back to SHSU and the Bearkats capitalized with consecutive points from Neisler and Bohlen to reach match point at 24-23. The visitors then took a 1-0 lead on an error by
Dorothy Swanson.
Thankfully, though, the Wildcats put together a big 9-1 run midway through game two en route to a 25-16 win, and then they grabbed a 2-1 lead after rallying back from a 14-10 deficit in game three. ACU stayed in close pursuit of the Bearkats throughout the third set and finally took the lead at 25-24 on a block by Mercier and Lambert.
Sam Houston State tied the score one last time at 25-25 on a kill by Bohlen, but the Wildcats got a quick kill from Lambert before benefitting from a game-ending ball handling error by Gray.
The Bearkats led game four most of the way without ever having a comfortable lead over the Wildcats. ACU trailed at one point 23-20, but then scored four of the next five points to tie the game at 24-24. But after Borger provided the game-tying block, Loerch and Robinett each hit the ball wide for consecutive attack errors.
The Wildcats return to action Homecoming Saturday, Oct. 19 with a 7 p.m. match vs. Incarnate Word.
