ABILENE – Abilene Christian volleyball came within a few plays of handing Stephen F. Austin its first regular-season Southland Conference defeat in more than a year Saturday afternoon, but the Ladyjacks dug themselves out of a 2-0 hole with some timely hits and a strong block and left Moody Coliseum with a 3-2 victory by scores of 19-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-11.
SFA's victory lifted its overall and conference records to 12-8 and 4-0 with their last regular-season defeat taking place in Nov. of 2013. The Ladyjacks went 16-0 in 2014, but were upset during the league's championship tournament.
The Wildcats' slipped to 1-15 and 1-2 with the loss and will continue their five-match homestand Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for Dig Pink Night vs. Incarnate Word.
ACU was swept twice last season by SFA and lost in four sets the year previous, so it came as a bit of shock to see the Ladyjacks off to such a slow start that included nine attack errors and a .000 hitting percentage.
The Wildcats trailed game one early until taking off on a 7-1 run that flipped their 12-10 deficit into a 17-13 lead. ACU received a block, kill and ace to begin their rally and later added back-to-back points from
Kendall Bosse and
Lexi Mercier. And after SFA crept to within a point at 18-17, the Wildcats benefitted from three straight attack errors, one of which was due to a block from freshman
Lauren Walker and
Jacey Smith.
ACU scored on four of the last six possessions to close the set. Two of those points were on sneak attacks by setter
Sarah Siemens, while the others were on Ladyjack errors.
Siemens finished the match with seven kills and a .278 hitting percentage in addition to her 10 digs and 53 assists.
Game two was a tug-of-war the entire way as the sides exchanged the lead six times and played through 15 tie scores. SFA was the first to 20 points, but the Wildcats' stormed back afterward with a 5-1 boost that concluded with a block assist by
Jennifer Loerch and Mercier.
The Ladyjacks got a point back on a kill from Abby McIntyre, who was masterful today, hitting .455 with a team high 18 kills and 19.5 points; but Siemens fed Mercier right at the net on the next and final possession for a kill that put ACU ahead 2-0.
Mercier was one of five Wildcats with 10-or-more points this afternoon. She collected 12.5 points on nine kills and five blocks (two solo), while Loerch finished with 15 kills, Smith registered 14, and both Walker and Bosse chipped in 12.
Game three was composed of three notable momentum swings, and it was unfortunate that ACU's rally was pinched in between a solid start and ending for the Ladyjacks. SFA won the first three points and led by as many as five when ACU was forced to burn a timeout trailing 9-5.
But the Wildcats scored the next two points out of the stoppage and later strung together three-straight points thanks to two kills by Smith that cut SFA's lead to 10-9. ACU then shot off on another 5-0 run to grab its biggest lead at 14-11.
The Ladyjacks were quick to chop into that lead, however, and went on to tie the score at 15-15 and 17-17 before pulling ahead on a Justice Walker kill that made it 18-17.
Walker was second to McIntyre on SFA with 13 kills and was involved on four blocks.
The Wildcats weren't down long and after SFA went back up at 19-18, they rattled off three more points with two kills by Smith sandwiched around an attack error by Walker.
Trailing now 21-19 and four points away from being swept, the Ladyjacks called one last timeout and responded with a game-changing 4-0 run that seemingly zapped the energy off the Wildcats' home court. Walker hammered in two kills during this run in addition to a block by McKenzie Brewer on Smith. ACU's Walker put a charge back into the crowd with a kill that made it 23-22 in favor of SFA, but the Ladyjacks battled back to win the game with back-to-back points coming from Haley Coleman.
SFA again pulled away late in game four, winning seven of the last 10 points after ACU grabbed a short-lived lead at 19-18, and then in game five, the Ladyjacks won four of five points going into the switch to take an 8-5 lead.
The Wildcats wouldn't get any closer than a point the rest of the way as SFA went on a 4-1 run after ACU cut its lead to 9-8 on a block from Walker and Smith. A Brewer service error – one of only five all match for SFA – made it a 13-10 game, but the Wildcats gave the serve right back to their visitors with an error of their own.
Two plays later the Ladyjacks exited the court victorious with McIntyre and Jacque Allen teaming up for the block on Loerch.
