FORT WORTH, TEXAS – With a team-high 10 kills Abilene Christian senior
Jennifer Loerch eclipsed the 1,000-career kill plateau during the Wildcats 3-0 season-opening loss at TCU Friday morning at the University Rec Center.
The Horned Frogs (1-0) won by scores of 25-9, 25-16 and 25-15, and will play again tonight against Texas State, while the Wildcats (0-1) will wait until Saturday morning to face UTEP at 10 a.m. ACU also will battle No. 17 Arizona tomorrow at SMU's Moody Coliseum at 5 p.m.
Loerch entered today's match with 992 kills and had four in the first set on 10 attempts. She then produced five kills on 11 attempts (.455) in game two with kill No. 1000 coming off one of 16 assists provided by senior teammate
Sarah Siemens.
Loerch is the first Wildcat to surpass 1,000 career kills since Jennie Hutt did so late in her junior season of 2010. The Georgetown, Texas, native still needs 205 kills to crack ACU's all-time top-10 leaderboard and more than 1,200 to catch Michelle Bernhardt, who finished her decorated career with a program-record 2,218.
Hutt ranks fourth all-time at ACU with 1,543 kills.
Loerch finished today's match with a .231 hitting percentage (10-of-26 with four errors), plus three digs and a block assist to give her 10.5 points. The Horned Frogs countered with a .419 attacking percentage led by 12 kills from Blaire Pickens and seven apiece from Jillian Bergeson and Ashley Smith.
Smith additionally dug out 12 attacks and was part of three blocks, while Regan McGuire assisted on four.
ACU's second-leading scorers behind Loerch were freshmen
Kendall Bosse and
Lauren Walker. Bosse provided four kills, two aces and two block assists. Walker played a roll in five blocks (one solo) to go along with three kills.
TCU ended game one on a 21-5 run after the two sides played through four ties and two lead changes, and then in game two the home team jumped out to a decisive 10-1 lead.
ACU started game three in another sizeable hole at 6-1, but battled back to tie the score at 7, 8, 9 and 10 before TCU took off on a match-ending 15-5 run.
Sarita Mikals delivered the game-winning point to finish with six kills and a .750 attack percentage.
