Thibodaux, La. - An improbable 8-2 run by Abilene Christian volleyball at the end of game four forced a winner-take-all game five, but once there the Wildcats couldn't outhit the hometown Colonels and lost 3-2 Tuesday night at Nicholls' Stopher Gymnasium by scores of 25-16, 20-25, 25-20, 22-25 and 15-11.
The Wildcats (4-21, 2-9 Southland) hit a match high .368 in game five, delivering seven kills on 19 attempts, but the Colonels (8-15, 4-6 Southland) countered with 11 kills on 21 attempts for a .476 attack percentage.
ACU held a slim lead over Nicholls through the first several rallies until Emily Weimer tied the score at 5-5 on a kill that kickstarted a 3-0 run that gave the Colonels the lead for good. Kali Schwartz followed Weimer's point with consecutive kills and finished the night with 18 points, which included half her team's six service aces.
ACU twice pulled to within a point on kills by
Erica Lambert and
Dorothy Swanson, who led the Wildcats with 15 kills on 37 attempts. But after Lambert's point, Nicholls again pushed its advantage to three points on a kill by Stephanie Tobison and ace by Schwartz. They then finished the match scoring four of the final five points.
Nicholls hit .293 for the match and likely would have posted a .300 or better attack percentage if not for an inconsistent fourth set in which they let a six-point lead slip away. The Colonels recorded only four attack errors, two of which came on Wildcat blocks, but a service error by Kayla Mashburn combined with a bad set by Ainsley Marroccoli made it a one-point game at 20-19. Lambert and senior
Neely Borger then tied the score at 20-20 with one of 10 blocks.
Borger factored into five blocks to tie freshman
Corinne Grandcolas for the team lead, while Lambert and Siemens each had four block assists.
Siemens gave the Wildcats their first lead at 21-20 with one of her five kills, then Swanson delivered an ace to force the Colonels into a timeout. Nicholls scored two of the next three points coming out of the stoppage, but a block from Grandcolas and Siemens brought the Wildcats to match point and an ace by
Tucker Smith served as the game-winner.
Nicholls wasted little time in jumping out to a 1-0 lead, first using a 4-0 run to break an 8-8 tie and then scoring 11 of the final 16 points after the Wildcats closed to within three points at 14-11 on a block form Grandcolas and Swanson. The Colonels outhit ACU in the first set by more than .200 points but the Wildcats soon turned their fortunes around in game two and led from start to finish on the strength of 14 kills - the last of which came off the hand of Borger, who hit .500 (9-for-18 with no errors).
Game three was close early until the Colonels took off on runs of 5-1 and 6-0 that pushed their lead out to 20-11. ACU made a late charge with three consecutive blocks (all involving Borger) that pulled the Wildcats to within four points at 23-19, but the Colonels would get a kills from Kaci Eaton and game-winning block from Tobison and Mikalya Miller two possessions later.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. vs. Incarnate Word for the start of a season-ending five-match homestand.
