Wildcats' rally falls short at Northwestern State

NATCHITOCHES, La. - Abilene Christian volleyball suffered its third consecutive five-set defeat since starting Southland Conference play last week, falling Thursday night at Northwestern State's Prather Coliseum by scores of 25-19, 29-27, 16-25, 23-25, 15-12.

The Lady Demons improved to 5-11 and 2-1 (Southland) with their home-opener victory, while the Wildcats fell to 2-14 and 0-3 (Southland).

ACU tonight showed some late spark in game two, coming all the way back from a seven-point deficit to tie the score several times before faltering at the end, 29-27. But the confidence gained there by the Wildcats carried them throughout game three's pelting of the Lady Demons and into game four, where a narrow two-point victory tied the match at 2-2.

Northwestern State trailed by as many as four points during the fourth game, but crept all the way back to within a point at 24-23 following an attack error by ACU sophomore Dorothy Swanson. Fortunately for the Wildcats, the match would go no further than the next point as sophomore Erica Lambert delivered one of her three kills to give ACU a 25-23 win.

In the fifth set, however, it was all Northwestern State with the home team quickly erasing a 2-0 Wildcat lead with a 5-0 run that gave it the lead for good. ACU climbed to within two points of Northwestern State three times down the stretch, but after a kill by Jennifer Loerch made it a 14-12 game, Mackenzie Neely responded with her 18th and final kill.

Neely hit .410 tonight and was one of three Lady Demons to finish with a double-digit kill total, joining Caiti O'Connell (18 K, .279) and Stacey DiFrancesco (14 K, .170).

Northwestern State hit .250 as a team, and defensively, blocked 10.0 shots and dug out 76 of ACU's 182 attempts.

Loerch led all players with 23 kills, while Swanson had 14 for the Wildcats to go along with two aces and 17 digs.

Senior Rachel Riley hit .233, recording 11 kills on 30 attempts, and was part of three block assists.    

Sophomore Lexi Mercier was credited with three solo blocks and assists in addition to her eight kills.

The Wildcats return to action Saturday with a 2 p.m. match at Stephen F. Austin.