HAMMOND, La. - Abilene Christian volleyball received a balanced offensive attack, blocked eight shots, and held Southeastern Louisiana to a .107 hitting percentage in its 3-1 win over the Lions Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
The Wildcats won by scores of 25-13, 23-25, 26-24 and 25-19 in recording the program's first weekend sweep of Southland Conference opposition since entering the league last season. ACU, which defeated New Orleans 3-0 Thursday night, is now 4-19 overall and 2-8 vs. the SLC, while the Lions slipped to 8-14 and 5-5.
Junior outside hitter
Jennifer Loerch once again led the Wildcats in kills with 12, but today she had two of her teammates nearly match her total as sophomore middle blocker
Lexi Mercier contributed 11 kills and six blocks (two solo) and sophomore
Dorothy Swanson hit .400 with 10 kills and 12 kills.
Loerch today also led her side with 15 digs and the setter combo of
Tucker Smith (21) and
Sarah Siemens (15) combined for 36 of the Wildcats' 45 assists.
The Wildcats began the match with a runaway victory in set one, during which they hit .400 with just two errors and jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Smith had the match's first serve and scored three of the Wildcats' first six points on an ace. Loerch fired off four kills, and the defense forced the Lions into seven attacking errors.
ACU again jumped out to a quick lead in game two, though not as sizable as 9-0, and the Lions were quick to respond, taking off on runs of 7-1 and 8-2 to build at 10-point lead at 20-10. But after reaching 23 points, Southeastern Louisiana could only watch in disbelief as the Wildcats rattled off eight consecutive points to tie the score at 23-23.
ACU's rally began with a kill by Loerch followed by an ace from
Neely Borger and a block by Mercier that was the first of three errors by the Lions. The Wildcats then received two more kills from Loerch to get within a point and tied it on an attack error by Tiffany Thomas.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Lions took the lead once more on the following possession with a kill by Veronica Turk, and tied the match at 1-1 after Loerch made one of her five errors.
Set three was a see-saw battle all the way. And even though the Wildcats trailed most of the way, they fought back to tie the score late at 22-22 on a block from Mercier and
Riley. The Lions, however, countered with back-to-back points on a kill by Parrie Hartley and ace by Mikayla Shippy to reach match point. But in yet another surprising moment, the Wildcats finished the set on a remarkable 4-0 run that started with a kill by Riley and ended on a service ace by
Brooke Ray - who tied Smith for the team lead in aces with three.
Game four belonged to ACU from start to finish as it built leads of 8-2 and 17-12 en route to a six-point victory. The Wildcats outhit the Lions .344 to .129 in the final set, getting five kills from Mercier and six from Swanson.
The Wildcats' Louisiana road-swing continues Monday with a 7 p.m. match at UL-Lafayette of the Sun Belt Conference and then its off to Nicholls for a Tuesday night match vs. the Colonels.
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