Central Arkansas Live Stats | Oral Roberts Live Stats
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian volleyball team makes its anticipated Southland Conference debut this weekend when the Wildcats visit two of the league's strongest members in Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts.
ACU will first travel to Conway, Ark., for a 7 p.m. match vs. the Sugar Bears (7-3) before heading 244 miles northeast to Tulsa for Saturday's 2 p.m. matinee against the Golden Eagles (8-2). Live stats are available for both matches. ORU's site also will offer
video and
audio streams.
ACU is 2-0 all-time vs. the defending Southland Conference champions from UCA and 4-2 against an Oral Roberts program that's made nine NCAA appearances and won seven conference titles. However, the Wildcats haven't faced the Sugar Bears since 2003 or Oral Roberts since 1992.
ACU (4-4) should feel prepared for its upcoming road trip after spending all of last weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. for the Lobo Invitational. The Wildcats struggled some at the onset as they were swept in consecutive matches by Northern Arizona (6-3) and host New Mexico (8-1), but played well in holding back Towson during Saturday's nightcap (5-8), 3-1.
The Wildcats lost the first game, 25-22, before capturing games two, three and four by scores of 25-22, 30-28 and 26-24. ACU held the Tigers to a .188 hitting percentage for the match as they were helped by more than 40 Towson errors. Twenty-four of those errors came on the attack, while 14 more came from the service line.
The Wildcats also blocked 7.0 shots to keep their lead in the Southland Conference (2.23 blocks per set), led by the efforts of freshman
Lexi Mercier. A native of Centennial, Colo., Mercier recorded five of her 20 tournament blocks against the Tigers and is tops in the conference with 47 blocks and 1.57 blocks per set.
Additional Wildcats ranked among the league's top 10 leaders are sophomore setter
Sarah Siemens (8.00 assists per set), sophomore libero
Madison Hoover (4.17 digs per set), senior
Madelyn Robinett (0.37 aces per set) and sophomore outside hitter Jennie Loerch (3.14 kills per set).
Loerch last week led ACU to a momentous 3-1 victory over Texas Tech and was the Wildcats' sole representative to the Lobo Invitational's all-tournament team. Against the Red Raiders – who swept ACU the previous week in Lubbock – Loerch led all players with 16 kills (.222) and was one of five Wildcats to finish with a double-digit total in digs with 14. She also had two consecutive kills late in the fourth set that gave ACU the lead at 24-23.
Loerch delivered 15 kills vs. Towson, and scored the final two points of the third set, which gave ACU a 2-1 lead.
Central Arkansas (7-3) had its mettle tested over the weekend in Fort Myers, Fla., where the Sugar Bears were part of a four-team field that featured No. 3 Penn State. UCA was swept by the Nittany Lions, but lost by only five points in the first set and three in the second before getting blown out, 25-10, in the third.
Before the Penn State match, UCA defeated host Florida Golf Coast, 3-1, and afterward lost to Marquette in five sets after holding a 2-1 advantage.
Leading the Sugar Bears' efforts was junior Shelbee Berringer, who was named Most Valuable Libero of the tournament. Berringer averaged 5.42 digs per set and turned in a match-high in digs three times. She had 24 digs in the victory over Florida Gulf Coast before adding 15 against Penn State and 26 against 25th-ranked Marquette.
Earlier this season, UCA defeated No. 20 Kansas, 3-1, at a tournament hosted by the University of Arizona.
The Sugar Bears' offense is led by the trio of Paige Gantar, Heather Schnars and Alicia Dittrich, all of who are ranked among the league's top-15 leaders in hitting percentage. Schnars also ranks 10th with 3.11 kills per set and fourth with 0.42 aces per set.
UCA's senior setter Marissa Collins is first in the conference in assists with 11.50 per set.
Oral Roberts is off to one of its best starts since 1996 at 8-2 as the Golden Eagles recently won two of three games at the Georgia Southern Volleyball Tournament. ORU lost game one to the host school, but then rebounded to defeat High Point in four and North Dakota State in three.
Senior Bruna Silva and freshman McKenna Qualls each earned all-tournament honors. Silva averaged 5.62 digs and 0.82 assists per set at the event, while Qualls averaged 3.00 kills and 3.64 digs per set.
Silva ranks second in the conference in digs (4.83) to Keelie Arneson of Northwestern State.
The ORU offense is led by junior Sara Pope, who averages 3.62 kills per set to go along with a .299 hitting percentage, and senior Jessica Pancratz, who ranks third in the league in hitting percentage (.366) and blocks (1.00).
