Volleyball records first sweep of season at Nicholls

ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball hit a season best .267 in a sweep of Nicholls Saturday at Stopher Gym. The Wildcats ran away from the Colonels in game one, 25-15 before hanging on to win games two and three by the same 27-25 score.

The Wildcats (5-16) improved to 4-2 against the Southland Conference with today's victory while Nicholls (5-16) remains winless vs. the league at 0-5.

Sophomore middle blocker Lauren Walker and sophomore outside hitter Jacey Smith tied for the team lead in points with 13.0 followed by junior outside hitter Corinne Grandcolas, who contributed 11.0 points on 11 kilss and a .391 hitting percentage. Walker also was very impressive on the attack, hitting .692 (9 of 13 with no errors) to go along with her four blocks (two solos, two assists).

Nicholls was limited to a .179 attack percentage as the Wildcats dug out 44 attacks led by freshman libero Amanda Chapa's 10 digs. Kali Schwartz led the Colonels with 15 points on five aces and 10 kills, but the next highest point total belonged to Emily Weimer who scored just 8.5 points on seven kills.

Similar to their victory a week ago vs. New Orleans, today's contest featured a major third-set comeback by the Wildcats. ACU rallied from 11 down (19-8) in game three en route to beating the Privateers in four sets, and today they battled back from nine down (13-4) to complete their sweep of the Colonels.

Grandcolas got the rally going with four straight kills that cut Nicholls lead to 13-8, and later the Wildcats took off on a 8-3 run to take their first lead of the set at 21-20 with an ace from sophomore setter Kendall Bosse forcing Nicholls to burn a timeout.

The two sides battled through four additional ties down the stretch, but the Wildcats managed to come out on top after consecutive errors by the Colonels wre followed by a match-winning kill from Smith. 

Smith also was clutch late in game two, scoring three times on the final seven possessions. ACU took a timeout after Nicholls went ahead 25-24, and right afterward the Wildcats scored three-straight points on two kills by Smith and one from Bosse.

ACU crushed Nicholls in game one thanks to two significant 6-0 runs. The Wildcats came back from a point down (6-5) with their first run and put the game away for good with Bosse on the serve as she delivered three straight aces as part of the second 6-0 run.

The Wildcats conclude their road trip Monday at 7 p.m. vs. Houston Baptist in Sharp Gym.