Women's Volleyball | 11/9/2016 2:44:00 PM
Nicholls:
Live Stats |
Video
McNeese:
Live Stats |
Video
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ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball reaches the conclusion of its 2016 season this weekend, and on Saturday the team and its fans will say farewell to its two outstanding seniors,
Lexi Mercier and
Dorothy Swanson.
The Wildcats begin their final Moody Coliseum homestand with a 6:30 p.m. match Thursday vs. Nicholls and play their final match Saturday at 1 p.m. vs. McNeese. ACU has won all seven of its home matches this fall and is 13-2 here over the past two seasons.
Both matches offer live stats and a video stream with
Mary Kate Rotenberry handling the play-by-play.
Mercier and Swanson were part of ACU's first NCAA Division I class and together they've combined for over 200 starts and 760 appearances. Mercier has made the Southland Conference's Commissioner's Honor Roll on several occasions, and following her freshman year she was tabbed to the league's list of honorable mentions for averaging 1.44 blocks per set. She has since blocked over 100 shots per season and her 456 total blocks rank fifth all-time at ACU.
Swanson has played a variety of positions in her Wildcat career, and in 2014 she was honored with the team's Joyce Curtis Wildcat Award after finishing with 123 points to go along with a career season high 111 kills and 208 digs. The White Oak, Texas, native hasn't missed more than one match over the past two years, and this fall she is averaging 2.24 digs per set with 61 kills, 22 assists and 11 blocks. Swanson recorded 19 of those kills a week ago Thursday in the Wildcats' 3-1 win vs. Houston Baptist, establishing a new single-match high.
Last weekend's home sweep of the Huskies and Lamar (W, 3-0) kept the Wildcats tied for third place in the Southland Conference with Sam Houston State at 9-5 – 2.0 games behind 11-3 Stephen F. Austin, which will finish its season on the road at Northwestern State and Central Arkansas. The Bearkats also close their year with trips to Conway, Ark. and Natchitoches, La.
The Wildcats hit .284 in the win over the Huskies to even their season series at 1-1, receiving 15 kills from
Jacey Smith plus 13 from freshman
Marybeth Sandercox. Three players recorded two aces, and on the block, freshman
Courtney Miller was credited with six assists. Â
Two nights later vs. Lamar, the Wildcats hit a season-best .310 with Sandercox hitting .438 on 16 attempts (10 kills) and setter
Kendall Bosse hitting .636 with eight kills and 32 assists. The team also played one of its best defensive games, registering 10 blocks and limiting the Cardinals to a .103 attacking percentage.
Freshman libero
Amanda Chapa finished the weekend with 35 digs and received an honorable mention for Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Chapa is one of five Wildcats ranked among the Southland's top-10 leaders with 4.49 digs per set, which is good for fifth.
Lauren Walker (1.08) and
Lexi Mercier (1.03) are fifth and eighth in blocks. Smith ranks seventh in kills (2.93), and Bosse is No. 9 with 7.84 assists.
ACU is second in the conference with 2.35 blocks per set.
