NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Abilene Christian volleyball team earned its first victory in Southland Conference play Thursday night, sweeping the Privateers of New Orleans by scores of 27-25, 25-22 and 25-18 at the Human Performance Center.
The Wildcats (3-19, 1-8 SLC)) outhit the Privateers, .171 to .055, led by junior outside hitter
Jennifer Loerch's 16 kills and .200 attack percentage. She also served two aces, dug out 10 attacks and was part of one of seven Wildcat blocks.
Senior
Neely Borger and sophomore
Erica Lambert tied for the team lead in block assists with 4.0 each, and sophomore
Brooke Ray again led the squad in digs with 20.
Setting the offense in motion were junior
Sarah Siemens and sophomore
Tucker Smith, who finished with 18 and 15 assists, respectively.
New Orleans (6-18, 0-10 SLC) jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game one but the Wildcats were quick to recover and used an 8-0 run to go ahead by three points at 14-11. ACU received four points from Borger during this stretch with two block assists and two kills.
The Wildcats continued to extend their lead and twice reached a five-point advantage at 20-15 and 21-16 before UNO made one final push, which led to three tie scores. But after a kill by UNO's Cara Sander knotted the score a final time at 24-24, the Wildcats got a point from sophomore
Lexi Mercier followed by a game-winning ace by Smith.
ACU finished the night with eight aces. Two were by Loerch and Borger while four others had one.
The Wildcats never trailed during their second-set victory, and in set three they again rallied from an early deficit thanks to 15 kills and a match-high .211 hitting percentage.
Lambert gave ACU the lead for good in set three with a kill that broke a 5-5 tie and ignited a 4-0 run. The Wildcats would later lead by as many as 10 points at 24-14, receiving points along the way from Loerch, Lambert, and senior
Rachel Riley in addition to benefitting from several UNO errors.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at Southeastern Louisiana for a 2 p.m. match vs. the Lions.
