CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Senior
Jennifer Loerch hit .317 with 16 kills and 16 digs in Abilene Christian volleyball's 3-1 loss Saturday afternoon at first-place Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which remains undefeated against the Southland Conference at 8-0.
ACU lost the match by scores of 26-24, 25-16, 23-25 and 25-17 to fall to 4-4 vs. the league and 4-17 overall. The victory was the Islanders' 20th of the season agains four defeats.
Corpus Christi outhit the Wildcats .273 to .189 and received double-digit kill totals from Ivy Baresh (17), Kelsee Felux (16) and Brittany Gilpin (12). Finishing behind Loerch in the ACU kill column were freshman
Kendall Bosse with 14 and
Jacey Smith with 11.
Defensively, the Islanders held a slight advantage in digs, 78-71, with Kate Klepetka responsible for 30 of those, and they recorded just one-half block more than ACU, 9.0 to 8.5. Smith got her hand up for five block assists, as did Madeline Doud to lead the Islanders.
Game one was an incredibly close contest from start to finish with no team separated by more than two points. Near the conclusion of the set ACU's
Lauren Walker tied the score a final time at 24-24, but then the Islanders responded with a kill from Baresh and benefitted from an error by Loerch.
After the break ACU was able to push the match to a fourth game by finishing game three on a 4-2 run after Baresh tied the score at 21-21. From there Loerch delivered three consecutive kills to push the lead out to 24-21, and then won it on an error by Felux after the Islanders crept to within a point at 24-23.
The Wildcats return home Thursday for the start of a three-match homestand against New Orleans at 6:30 p.m. ACU also plays Southeastern Louisiana Saturday at 1 p.m. and Nicholls Monday at 6:30 p.m. to conclude its home slate for 2015.
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