Women's Volleyball | 8/30/2016 1:12:00 PM
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South Dakota:
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ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball will be featured in three of nine matches scheduled for this weekend's Omaha Classic, which will feature teams from Ball State, Drake, UMKC and South Dakota in addition to the host Mavericks. ACU begins its second tournament of the fall with a Friday doubleheader vs. UMKC (3 p.m.) and Omaha (7 p.m.) followed by a single-match Saturday against South Dakota (4 p.m.).
The Wildcats started their 2016 campaign with four tough matches in New Mexico, where they fell to the Lobos and teams from Idaho, Fairfield and Arizona State - the last two of which reached the 2015 NCAA Championship. In spite of the losses, ACU received fine individual efforts from junior
Corinne Grandcolas, who led the team in Albuquerque with 39.0 points, and senior
Lexi Mercier, whose 13 blocks (four solo) gave the Wildcats a 30-23 advantage at the net.
Freshman
Courtney Miller also impressed on the block with 11 assists, while sophomore
Kendall Bosse in her first full weekend as a setter averaged 7.46 assists per set. Bosse's classmate and outside hitter
Jacey Smith was second on the team wtih 33.5 points as she delivered 29 kills, an ace and seven block assists.
ACU is meeting Omaha for the fourth time in program history and first since both teams moved into NCAA DI Athletics. The Mavericks are now part of the Summit League, but while as members of the MIAA, they went 1-2 vs. the Wildcats, following a 3-0 win in 2009 with 3-1 defeats in 2010 and 2011.
Omaha is off to an 0-3 start this season with losses coming on the road to North Dakota, Ole Miss and UC Davis. The Mavericks will look to snap their winless streak Thursday with a non-conference match vs. Iowa State at Baxter Arena as a warmup to their Omaha Classic.
ACU plays UMKC and South Dakota for the first time in program history this weekend. The 'Roos of the WAC Conference begin their week at 2-1 and will visit South Dakota before heading back south to Omaha where they'll face the Wildcats in addition to Drake and the Mavericks. UMKC last week swept UTEP and Oral Roberts in Norman, Okla., before falling 3-0 to the Sooners.
The South Dakota Coyotes went 2-1 at their first tournament hosted by Tulsa, following a 3-1 loss to Alabama with sweeps of Incarnate Word and Golden Hurricane.
