Women's Volleyball | 10/1/2014 9:15:00 AM
Live Stats vs. Northwestern State |
Live VideoLive Stats vs. Stephen F. AustinABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball's five-match road trip continues this weekend as the Wildcats look to crack the Southland Conference win column against both Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin.
The Wildcats first will face the Lady Demons Thursday at 7 p.m. before heading west to battle the Ladyjacks Saturday at 2 p.m. Northwestern State will provide a live video stream in addition to live stats.
ACU enters this weekend looking to rebound from consecutive five-set losses to the defending Southland Conference champions from Central Arkansas and its old foes from Incarnate Word. The Wildcats held a 2-1 advantage against the Sugar Bears at home on Sept. 25, only to drop sets four and five by scores of 25-20 and 15-12.
Three days later in San Antonio, the Wildcats jumped out to 1-0 lead before losing consecutive sets by matching 26-24 scores. And after ACU pummeled UIW in the fourth set, 25-14, behind a .524 hitting percentage, the Wildcats were limited to just three kills in a 15-8 fifth-set loss.
Junior outside hitter
Jennifer Loerch led ACU last weekend with 42.0 points, 40 of which were on kills. She also put up two block assists during a stretch in which her team registered 23.0 - 18.0 of which came against UCA.
The Wildcats currently rank fifth in the conference with 1.88 blocks per set. Individually, Loerch is fourth with 3.72 kills per set, setter
Sarah Siemens has the 10th-best assist average at 7.50, and libero
Madison Hoover ranks eighth with 3.80 digs per set.
Sophomore
Lexi Mercier, who led the Southland last season in blocks (1.44 per set), has 52 (six solo) this season for a 0.98 per set average.
Northwestern State's match vs. the Wildcats Thursday is its home opener as the Lady Demons finally come off their season-opening road trip with a 4-11 record (1-1 vs. SLC). NSU played in tournaments hosted by North Texas, Mississippi State and Auburn to begin the year and last week they split their first two Southland matches, following a 3-2 win at McNeese with a 3-0 loss to Nicholls. The Colonels won just two league contests all of last season.
The Lady Demons are one of the Southland's top defensive sides, ranking first in blocks (2.42), digs (19.20) and opponent hitting percentage (.143). They are led by senior libero Keelie Arneson (6.82 digs per set) and junior middle blocker Glynna Johnson (1.27 blocks per set).
Stephen F. Austin started conference play with back-to-back 3-0 sweeps of McNeese and Nicholls in lifting its season record to 9-7. The Ladyjacks are No. 1 in kills (12.91) and assists (12.31) this fall and second to UCA with a .194 hitting percentage.
SFA has talented players at nearly every position from junior libero OJ Olson (5.64 digs) to middle blocker Jacque Allen (1.24 blocks) to attackers Jill Ivy (3.50 kills) and Justice Walker (2.22 kills, .287 hitting percentage).
