OMAHA - The Mavericks relinquished a 2-1 lead to Abilene Christian volleyball and let a six-point advantage slip away in a wild fifth set before prevailing, 17-15, Friday night at Baxter Arena to conclude the first day of action at the Omaha Classic.
Omaha (2-4) dropped the first set, 25-23, to the Wildcats (0-6) but was fairly dominant in sets two and three, winning by scores of 25-15, 25-17. ACU, however, climbed back into the contest with a 7-3 run to end game four (25-21) and nearly pulled off an incredible rally in game five.
The Mavericks took off midway through the final set breaking a 5-5 deadlock with four consecutive points with Sydney O'Shaughnessy on the serve. O'Shaughnessy recorded two of her four aces during this stretch in finishing with 10.5 points and watched teammates Nicki Carson and Amanda Conlin provide one of the Mavs' 10 blocks that made it an 8-5 game.
Omaha grabbed its largest lead of the set at 12-6 but ran into great difficulty trying to put away the Wildcats. A solo block by sophomore
Lauren Walker cut ACU's deficit in half, and then back-to-back points from sophomore
Jacey Smith (kill) and
Kendall Bosse (ace) made it a one-point game at 14-13.
The Mavericks burned a timeout following the Bosse ace, but an attack error by Meagen Roth coming out of the break tied the score at 14-14.
From there, O'Shaughnessy put her side ahead once more. Smith then tied the score a final time at 15-15 with 21st kill of the evening, and afterward the Mavericks went home happy with consecutive kills from Kayla Torson and O'Shaughnessy.
O'Shaughnessy hit .455 for the match as the team's setter with five kills and 54 assists. Her side hit .195 overall compared to .181 for the Wildcats.
Four other Mavericks registered over 10 points, and their defense dug out 96 of ACU's 177 attempts.
Smith attempted 71 attacks from the outside hitter position and finished with an attack percentage of .211, while junior
Corinne Grandcolas finished with 10 kills. Walker posted four of ACU's 10 blocks and freshman
Amanda Chapa had the most digs with 22.
Earlier Friday, UMKC (3-2) pulled away late from the Wildcats in sets two and three in earning a 3-0 victory. A kill from Smith tied the second-set score a 14th time at 22-22, but the Roos got the serve back on a error and were immediately dealt an ace from Devan Porter followed by a strike from Emma Hagedorn.
Game three experienced six tie scores, the last of which was at 19-19 following a Hagedorn service error, but three consecutive miscues by ACU put UMKC ahead by three points at 22-19 and the Roos won the match five possessions later on a kill from Madison Mosier.
UMKC hit .379 and was led by Hagedorn's 10 kills and 2.5 blocks from Mykal Sadler, who also posted a .667 attack percentage.
Smith led the Wildcats with 18 points and 16 kills, while Bosse tossed up 31 assists and Chapa dug out 15 attacks. The Wildcats also received six service aces with two from Smith and freshman
Sofia Resendiz.
The Wildcats conclude their stay in Omaha Saturday with a late afternoon match vs. South Dakota.
