LUBBOCK - Abilene Christian volleyball finished its first day of Texas Tech's Lone Star Showdown 0-2 after falling 3-0 to Air Force Friday afternoon by scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-17.
The victory raised the Falcons' season record to 6-7, while the Wildcats dropped to 1-11.
Air Force led a majority of the first set from start-to-finish and used late offensive surges to capture games two and three.
ACU led the Falcons 11-10 midway through game two, but watched its advantage quickly disappear as Air Force took off on a backbreaking 9-2 run. This stretch provided the
Falcons with a six-point lead at 19-13 and the Wildcats wouldn't get any closer than five points the rest of the way.
Game three followed a similar pattern. The Wildcats went ahead 14-13 on the strength of a 6-2 run during which kills were logged by
Erica Lambert,
Sarah Siemens and Jennie Loerch, who led all Wildcats with 15.5 points (14 kills, 1.5 blocks). Air Force, however, immediately countered with five-consecutive points and later negated a mini 3-0 run by ACU that pulled the Wildcats to within a point (18-17) with a match-closing 7-0 run.
Akokwe Clement paced the Falcons' offense with 18 kills and a .390 attack percentage. Maggie Sherrill added six points and Kristen Holt contributed seven on five kills and two blocks.
Air Force outhit ACU, .239 to .098, dug out 58 Wildcat attacks and blocked six shots.
ACU had 57 digs, and was once again led by junior libero
Madison Hoover who had a match-high 16.
The Wildcats conclude their stay at Texas Tech Saturday with a 10 a.m. match vs. Weber State. The WSU Wildcats entered this weekend with two victories, but came back from a set down Friday morning to beat Air Force in four and tonight was challenging Texas Tech throughout each of their first four sets.
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