Volleyball's third-set comeback lifts Wildcats to 3-1 win

ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball trailed New Orleans by as many as 11 points in the third set before staging an incredible comeback victory in front of a raucous 'Purple Game' crowd Thursday night at Moody Coliseum. ACU won the match in four sets by scores of 25-22, 17-25, 26-24, 25-16.

The Wildcats (3-15, 2-1 Southland) and Privateers (3-13, 0-3 Southland) were tied at one set going into game three, where the visitors soon began to pull away thanks to a 16-5 run that gave them their largest lead of the evening at 19-8. ACU started then to string together some runs of its own, beginning with a 4-0 spurt that cut its deficit to seven points at 19-12.

From there, ACU received three consecutive kills from three different players – Corinne Grandcolas, Jacey Smith and Marybeth Sandercox – to pull within five points of the lead at 21-16, which forced UNO to burn a timeout. 

The Privateers appeared to regain the advantage following their stoppage as they scored two of the next three points, and they then made it a 24-20 contest with one of 15 kills from Blessing Dunn (.385). But just prior to that kill, ACU began to strengthen its block and got back-to-back stuffs from Lauren Walker that brought the Wildcats to within three points of the lead.

ACU's block continued to frustrate the Privateers down the stretch as Brianna Vega was rejected twice in a row by Walker and Kendall Bosse. UNO then turned to Rondolyn Bryant, but the result was the same as a block by Walker and Corinne Grandcolas gave the Wildcats their first lead since the first point. ACU then won the game on a 10th attack error by UNO, which finished the match with a .099 hitting percentage.

Energy from the home crowd carried over into game four, where the Wildcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead and later responded with a 4-0 run after UNO briefly tied the score at 6-6. Again, the Wildcat block was fierce as they knocked down six attacks, receiving solo efforts along the way from Smith and Lexi Mercier.

Three of the Wildcats last four points in game four were scored on the block as they finished the match with a 15-5 advantage. Mercier and Smith were part of two blocks down the stretch, and ACU won the match on a block assist from Walker and Sandercox.

Six separate ACU players had a hand in at least one block, led by Walker who had one solo to go along with her four assists. Walker also contributed six kills in finishing with 10.5 points, while Smith had a game-high 13.0 points and Bosse registered 12.0 to go along with her 19 assists and eight digs. Makenzie Kesler also played well at setter tonight, assisting on 18 kills.

Bosse was ACU's second-leading hitter (9-2-24) with a .292 attack percentage, trailing only Sandercox, who ripped seven kills on 15 attempts with no errors, and defensively, the Wildcats dug out 65 of UNO's 165 attacks led by Amanda Chapa (21) and Lillian Drever (14).

The Privateers had three players with 12 or more points. Dunn and Jordan Yauch each finished with 15.5 points, while Vega scored 12.5 points. 
 
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 11 a.m. vs. Southeastern Louisiana.