ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball exacted a small measure of revenge vs. Nicholls Saturday morning, coming back from a set down to defeat the Colonels, 3-1, behind a .229 attack percentage and 14.0 blocks - six of which came during the final game.
Nicholls defeated the Wildcats 3-2 a few weeks ago at home, but only hit .128 today and made 24 combined errors through the final three sets in dropping to 9-18 overall and 5-9 vs. the Southland Conference.
With today's victory, ACU recorded its second weekend conference sweep of the last three weeks and improved to 6-22 overall and 4-10 vs. the league.
The Wildcats and Colonels recorded complete opposite performances in moving from games one to two. Nicholls started the match converting on 16-of-35 attacks, while holding ACU to a .188 hitting percentage, and perhaps the score could have been more lopsided if not for four Colonels' serving errors.
In game two, however, Nicholls had no semblance of an attack, committing seven hitting errors and two more on the serve. ACU capitalized on their miscues from the start and led from wire-to-wire thanks to five kills from junior outside hitter
Jennifer Loerch, four from
Erica Lambert and 3.0 blocks from the combination of
Lexi Mercier,
Neely Borger,
Sarah Siemens and
Taylor Nix.
Loerch delivered three of her second game-kills during the final four rallies of the set after freshman
Nicole Morales came into serve with the Wildcats ahead 21-17.
Game three appeared to be up for grabs early on until the Wildcats took off on a 5-0 run that gave them their largest lead of the match at five-points. But that advantage didn't last long as the Colonels countered with a 9-4 run that tied the score at 19-19 - the final point of that rally coming from Mikayla Miller.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, they responded to the pressure with three consecutive points. Borger broke the tie with a kill. Lambert made it a two-point game with one of her four kills that game, and then Borger delivered a well-placed ace to put her team ahead 23-20.
Emily Weimer of Nicholls erred on the next possession to bring the Wildcats to set point and two plays later Siemens assisted Lambert on the game-winning kill. Siemens finished the match with 28 assists, while sophomore setter
Tucker Smith had 15.
ACU again jumped out to a comfortable lead in game four at 15-10 only to watch the Colonels' climb to within a point on a 4-0 run that included two Wildcat attack errors. But two kills from Loerch a few moments later put the Wildcats in front by three at 18-15 and then an ace from Smith combined with yet another point by Loerch returned ACU's five-point cushion.
Nicholls called timeout down 21-16, however, its strategy coming out of the break backfired as the Colonels hit into the Wildcat block three straight times. Borger played a role in all three blocks and finished the match with two solo efforts and six assists.
Loerch, meanwhile, was credited with four block assists and a match high 15 kills. Mercier and Lambert each had 10 kills, and junior
Madison Hoover dug out 15 attacks in her first match back from injury.
Sophomore
Brooke Ray had 16 digs from the libero position and Morales finished with 13.
Kaci Eaton led the Colonels with 18 kills, but hit just .176.
The Wildcats return to action next week as they conclude their regular season at home Thursday and Saturday vs. Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State. Match times are 7 and 2 p.m.
Saturday's Senior Day match will run right into the women's basketball' season opener vs. Wayland Baptist at 5 p.m.
