ABILENE – With senior
Jennifer Loerch at the service line, the Abilene Christian volleyball team won the last six points of game three to erase a 23-19 deficit and complete its 3-0 sweep of the Northwestern State Lady Demons before a raucous home crowd Thursday night at Moody Coliseum.
The victory was a long-awaited one for the Wildcats as they started their 2015 season 0-14 on the road and 0-1 in the Southland Conference, but all their fortunes seemingly changed overnight as they led Northwestern State wire-to-wire in games one (25-17) and two (25-21) before pulling off their unlikely comeback in game three (25-23).
ACU trailed by as many as five points in the final set after the Lady Demons (3-13, 1-3 Southland) used a 4-0 run to take a 20-15 lead. The visitors later went up by four following one of a team-high nine kills by Lauren Agan that pushed the score out to 23-19.
The Wildcats won the next point on a kill by Loerch. Northwestern State followed with a timeout. And then Loerch went to the line for the start of an impressive rally during which freshman
Jacey Smith and
Kendall Bosse continued their precise attack.
Smith recorded two kills within three possessions to tie the score at 23-23 and then an attack error by Channing Burleson gave the Wildcats their second lead of the game at 24-23. Rookie
Kendall Bosse soon closed matters with the game-winning strike, which was her 10th of the contest.
Loerch led all players with 14 kills and hit .211 to go along with an ace and eight digs, while Bosse finished with 10.5 points and Smith contributed 11.5.
Rookie
Lauren Walker also had a successful night, hitting .545 (7-for-11 with one error) and was part of two of the Wildcats' three blocks.
Setter
Sarah Siemens was in sync with her attackers, providing 37 assists, while senior libero
Madison Hoover dug out 21 attacks to anchor the defense.
Overall, the Wildcats outhit the Lady Demons, .193 to .132. Northwestern State was especially hurt on the serve, making nine errors in addition to the 16 they had on the attack.
The Wildcats five-match homestand continues Saturday at noon against the defending regular-season champions from Stephen F. Austin.
