LAKE CHARLES, La. - Senior
Jennifer Loerch's game-high 17th kill of the night served as the match-winner Thursday evening as Abilene Christian volleyball staved off a late charge from host McNeese in an exciting 3-1 victory at the Memorial Gymnaisum.
The Wildcats won by scores of 25-23, 27-25, 18-25 and 25-22 in improving to 8-5 against the Southland Conference, while the Cowgirls fell to 6-7.
Loerch hit .213 on the night and along with freshman
Kendall Bosse they combined for 32 of the Wildcats' 60 kills, 51 of which were set up by senior
Sarah Siemens who has five 50+ assist performances on the season. The Bakersfield, Calif., native additionally dropped in seven kills (.375), served up one ace and assisted on two blocks.
The Wildcat defense equally was impressive, blocking nine shots and digging out 82 of 165 McNeese attack attempts. Libero
Madison Hoover led her side with 20 digs followed by Siemens and freshman
Lillian Drever with 16.
All three victories were incredibly close for the Wildcats, who have started their year-ending, five-match road swing at 2-0. In game one they let a four-point lead at 23-19 dwindle to one (23-24) following a Wildcat attack error and subsequent block by Ebony Lewis and Kelly Graham but Loerch received a nice pass from Hoover on the first possession after an ACU timeout to give her team a 1-0 lead.
All 60 of ACU's kills were assisted, with Hoover credited with three of them.
In game two the Wildcats had to battle back from several late deficits. The Cowgirls trailed most of the way but finally took their first lead at 20-19 on an attack error by Siemens and pushed that advantage out to 22-20 on one of 16 kills from Malina Sanchez. Five plays later McNeese became the first to reach game point at 24-23, but a pair of kills from Bosse kept the Wildcats afloat as she helped the score at 24-24 and 25-25.
Then with Bosse on the service, Siemens turned to freshman
Jacey Smith who delivered the final two points of the set. Smith finished the match with nine kills.
McNeese closed game three on a 10-3 run to cut into the Wildcats lead at 2-1 but encountered a rough stretch midway through game four in which ACU rattled off eight straight points to flip a one-point deficit into a seven-point lead at 16-9.
The Cowgirls never went away and soon climbed back to within a point at 22-21 after an unfortunate ball-handling error was called on Siemens. Siemens, however, scored the very next point and then an attack error by Lewis brought the Wildcats to match point.
Loerch failed on her first attempt for the match-winner, which made the score 24-22, but delivered on the following play to give ACU its second straight win over McNeese and at least a .500 season within the Southland Conference.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. vs. Nicholls. The Colonels upset the Wildcats 3-1 late last month at Moody Coliseum.
