SAN ANTONIO - Abilene Christian volleyball hit .385 in the decisive fifth set to defeat Incarnate Word for the third straight time in their series. The Wildcats won the Saturday morning match at the McDermott Center by scores of 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 15-25 and 25-9.
ACU (2-15, 1-1 Southland) took off on three significant runs in the fifth game and were helped along by seven Cardinal errors – five on the attack and two at the service line. The Wildcats tied the score at 2-2 and secured the lead for good after UIW made three consecutive errors, and later in the game they went on a 5-0 run that included two kills by
Jacey Smith, an ace from
Lillian Drever, and a block from Smith and
Lexi Mercier.
Smith's third point of this run put the Wildcats ahead 10-5. And after the Cardinals closed to within three points of the lead at 11-8, the Wildcats responded with three consecutive points from Smith,
Lauren Walker and freshman setter
Makenzie Kesler to reach match point.
The Wildcats finally won the lengthy two hour and 10-minute battle on an attack error by Maddie Slaughter.
Smith was ACU's leading point scorer with 21.0 points, adding five service aces to her 14 kills and four block assists. She also hit .300, while Walker posted a .462 attack percentage, delivering seven kills on 13 attempts to go along with five blocks (one solo).
Sophomore setter
Kendall Bosse also did well on the attack (seven kills, .261) and provided 14 assists, while Kesler had 15. Bosse and Kesler additionally dug out eight attacks and freshman libero
Amanda Chapa had a team high 15.
The Cardinals were led on offense by the trio of Autumn Lockley, Emily Waller and Bryaunea Hall. Lockley delivered 16 kills, Waller had 10, and Hall recorded nine.
The Wildcats return to action next Thursday, Sept. 29 vs. New Orleans. Match time against the Privateers at Moody Coliseum is 6:30 p.m.
