CONWAY, Ark. - Abilene Christian volleyball completed the road portion of its 2016 schedule Saturday with a 3-1 loss at Central Arkansas. The Bears won 25-21 in the first set, lost 31-29 in set No. 2, and pushed past the Wildcats in sets three and four by scores of 25-18 and 25-13.
The Wildcats fell to 8-19 overall and 7-5 within the Southland Conference following today's loss, while the Bears improved to 11-13 and 5-7.
Apart from game two, this match squarely belonged to the Bears as they used a 10-1 run in game one to take a commanding 11-4 lead, and in games three and four they jumped out to leads of 13-9 and 16-6.
There were 18 ties and eight lead changes in the second set, the last of which occurred when the Wildcats finished on a 3-0 run after trailing 29-28. Sophomore outside hitter
Jacey Smith tied the score at 29-29 with one of her 13 kills and won it with another kill following an attacking error by UCA's Samantha Anderson.
Smith led all Wildcats with 15 points, hitting .257 with 13 kills, five digs and four block assists. Senior
Dorothy Swanson also finished with 12.5 points on 11 kills, but the rest of the roster was limited to single-digit point totals as the Wildcats hit .178 for the match.
Central Arkansas hit .268 even though the Wildcats dug out 53 attacks and blocked 13 shots led by freshman
Courtney Miller's nine stuff (one solo, eight assists). Freshman libero
Amanda Chapa recorded the team's most digs with 17.
Four Bears finished with 11 or more points led by Kellen Dunn's 24.5 points. She hit .362 to go with her 23 kills and added an ace and block assist.
ACU plays its last four Southland Conference matches at home starting with Thursday night's rematch vs. Houston Baptist. Game one starts at 6:30 p.m.
HBU swept the Wildcats earlier this season at Sharp Gym.
