DENTON, Texas - Abilene Christian volleyball had four individuals reach 10.0 points but the team as a whole hit .137 and Houston held on for 3-1 victory over the Wildcats Friday at the North Texas Invitational by scores of 25-22, 26-24, 23-25 and 25-21.
The win improved Houston's record to 6-1, while the Wildcats' season-opening losing streak was extended to an eighth match.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this stretch has been how close the Wildcats have come to reversing their fortunes. Because ever since they lost the opening set to Texas A&M, 25-14, on Sept. 5 they've recorded 10-consecutive sets of 20-or-more points but have only two victories to show for their efforts. One of those wins was against the Aggies and the other came tonight vs the Cougars - each in the third set.
Equally excruciating for this club is that in the nine sets they've lost over their last three matches, it's only been by an average of 2.9 points.
Tonight's team stats showed a fairly even match up. Both sides struggled for consistency on offense as each hit .137, and on defense ACU dug out just four fewer attacks (69-65), while recording one more block (10-9). One of the big differences, however, came at the service line, where the Wildcats recorded nine errors to Houston's five. UH also delivered nine aces, while ACU had six - half of which were by freshman
Jacey Smith.
Individually, it was ACU rookie
Lauren Walker who had the best overall night on the court as she finished with 12.5 points. Ten of those points came on kills as she hit .450 on 20 attempts.
Senior
Jennifer Loerch led the Wildcats with 13.5 points but hit only .038 as she put up well over 50 attempts. Freshman
Kendall Bosse and junior
Lexi Mercier also reached double-figures in points scored as Bosse delivered nine kills and Mercier added a season-best six blocks.
Elsewhere, senior setter
Sarah Siemens posted a 33 assist/10 dig double-double and senior libero
Madison Hoover contributed a team and season-high 24 digs.
By comparison, Houston had three players with 10-or-more digs led by Brookah Palmer (17), Hunter Wise (13), and Claire McGown (10). Wise also shared the team lead of six blocks with Courtney Smith, who scored five of her 11.0 points from the service line.
Much like Tuesday's contest at UT Arlington, tonight's match was another see-saw, tug-of-war battle for the Wildcats and their opposition. The lead changed hands nine times and the score tied on 20 occasions, including seven times in game two and six in game three.
ACU hung close with Houston for much of game one until the Cougars took off on a 8-2 run that pushed their lead out to 23-15. But UH ran into trouble putting away the Wildcats after Smith started her second turn at the service line with consecutive aces followed by back-to-back attack errors by Palmer and Shelby Harper that pulled ACU to within three points at 24-21.
Houston burned its second timeout after the Harper error and then a
Lexi Mercier kill made it a two-point game at 24-22. Unfortunately, Smith's luck expired on her next touch as Houston won it on a service error.
The Wildcats started hot in game two thanks to a 6-0 run but the Cougars refused to yield and ended up tying the score three times before taking their first lead on a McGown kill that made it 19-18.
UH held that lead until the Wildcats strung together three-straight points to move ahead at 22-21, and they became the first to reach match point following a kill by Loerch off an assist from Siemens. But right afterwards the Cougars ended the game on a 3-0 run, as a kill from Wise was followed by back-to-back points from Palmer.
Game three again belonged to ACU early on as the Wildcats built up a pair of five-point leads only to watch the Cougars climb all the way back and tie the score at 22-22. Bosse re-entered the match after UH knotted the score and she immediately contributed with a kill and a block assist alongside Walker that made it 24-22.
Houston got one more point from Palmer and then Bosse finished it with her sixth kill of the game.
In game four the Wildcats posted one nice comeback after trailing 4-1 early, but couldn't produce a second after UH took off on a 6-0 run that flipped its 15-12 deficit into an 18-15 lead. ACU wouldn't get any closer than three points the rest of the way as Palmer recorded three kills down the stretch.
The Wildcats complete their stay at North Texas Saturday with a doubleheader against the Mean Green (11 a.m.) and Boise State (4:30 p.m.).
