ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball kicked off its latest road trip with a three-set loss at McNeese in which the Cowgirls hung on to win each game by the same 25-23 score.
The loss snapped a three-match winning streak for the Wildcats, dropping their overall and conference records to 4-16 and 3-2, while McNeese improved to 6-15 and 2-4.
Both sophomore
Jacey Smith and senior
Lexi Mercier delivered solid individual efforts, but the team as a whole hit .181 to McNeese's .213 and tied the Cowgirls in blocks with 8.0. ACU had outblocked its previous three opponents, 40-18, and had a five-match streak of 10 or more blocks going into tonight.
Smith led the Wildcats with 12.5 points on 12 kills and a block assist, and Mercier hit an impressive .462 with eight kills and four block assists. Sophomore
Kendall Bosse set up a majority of the attacks, finishing with 23 assists. And on defense, freshman libero
Amanda Chapa dug out a team high 27 attacks.
ACU hit well over .200 in games one and two but could not close out either set in which there were a combined 33 ties and 15 lead changes. The Wildcats in game one tied the score a final time at 23-23 following a Katelyn Elliott attack error, however, McNeese responded right afterward with a kill from Jenny D'Alessandro and won on a bad set.
In game two, ACU erased a two-point deficit and grabbed a 23-22 lead thanks to three consecutive kills from Smith. But following back-to-back McNeese time outs, the Wildcats committed a service error and then D'Alessandro whipped across two straight kills to put her team ahead 2-0 at the intermission.
D'Alessandro finished the match with 12.5 points, which were second on the team to Rebecca Korenek's 13.0 points. Korenek hit .455 on 22 attempts, making just two errors.
ACU led McNeese by as many as three points late in game three but lost the advantage after the Cowgirls took off on a 6-1 run that gave them the lead for good at 22-20. The Wildcats cut that deficit down to one point three times down the stretch but a service error with the Cowgirls sitting at match point cost them the contest.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday afternoon with a match at Nicholls in Thibodaux, La.
