OMAHA - Abilene Christian volleyball hit .265 in the third set led by six kills from sophomore outside hitter
Jacey Smith, but the Wildcats couldn't quite duplicate that effort in game four and suffered a close 3-1 defeat to South Dakota Saturday night at Omaha's Baxter Arena.
The Coyotes (6-1) won by scores of 25-18, 25-15, 18-25 and 25-22. ACU (0-7) trailed by as many as five points midway through the fourth set but clawed to within a point at 19-18 thanks to a 5-1 run in which three attack errors by Coyotes were sanwiched between kills from senior
Lexi Mercier and Smith, who finished the match with 14 kills and a .270 attack percentage.
The Wildcats wouldn't get any closer to the lead, and trailed by two points four additional times down the stretch before the Coyotes put the match away thanks to a kill from Aubrey Reeg and a bad set from the Wildcats.
Reeg led all players with 19 kills, while her teammate Elizabeth Loschen registered 13 kills and a .345 attacking percentage.
In addition to Smith's 15.5 points, the Wildcats also received 11.5 points from Mercier (nine kills, four blocks) and 11 points from
Lauren Walker (nine kills, four block assists). Sophomore
Kendall Bosse finished with 38 assists and was second on the team with 16 digs as freshman
Amanda Chapa had 17.
The Wildcats make their 2016 Moody Coliseum debut Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. vs. UT Arlington and head back on the road next weekend for three matches at a Texas Tech-based tournament.
