CORPUS CHRISTI – The ACU Wildcats' improbable march to the Southland Conference post-season tournament championship match continued Saturday afternoon as the tournament's No. 8 seed stormed into Sunday's final with a 3-1 win over No. 4 seed Houston Baptist at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The Wildcats – who on Friday became the first No. 8 seed in tournament history to beat the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a 3-1 win over Stephen F. Austin – will take on No. 2 seed Central Arkansas at 3:05 p.m. in a match that will be broadcast on the Southland Digital Network. UCA knocked off No. 3 seed and back-to-back conference tournament champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a five-set thriller in the second semifinal match of the day.
ACU Athletics is hosting a Championship Watch Party beginning at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Buffalo Wild Wings (1010 East Overland Trail) for fans who are interested in watching the game with other Wildcat fans.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Huskies on Saturday with wins in the first two sets by the scores of 26-24 and 27-25 before HBU rallied to win the third set, 25-19. But the Wildcats moved into the championship match with a 25-23 win in the fourth set, avenging a 3-1 loss to the Huskies in Houston on Oct. 14.
Jacey Smith was phenomenal in the match against HBU, hitting .271 and finishing the match with 20 kills, 10 digs and four block assists. Both teams were terrific with their block as ACU finished with 13 team blocks and HBU with 14. But ACU's block and play in the middle was the difference in its ability to get an insurmountable 2-0 lead.
"Our block started out really aggressive and we were able to terminate quite a few ball early on in the match," ACU head coach
Angela Mooney said. "I believe the third set was one of the big differences in the match. We weren't controlling or slowing down plays at the net. During the break we talked about re-focusing our execution at the net to help our defenders in the back row. I believe the team did just that. We were able to slow a ton of balls down in the fourth set and convert those slowdowns into quality digs, which made the job for our hitters that much easier."
The Wildcats also got big contributions from freshman outside hitter Katelyn Mueller (11 kills, 15 digs), freshman middle Lorin McNeil (seven kills and six block assists), setter Kendall Bosse (five kills and 44 assists), as well as libero Amanda Chapa, who had 31 digs.
"Jacey Smith had a great match (Saturday)," Mooney said. "Her front row execution and her defense was really high level. Our middles struggled to get going offensively so it was great to see Jacey step up and lead and compete in a way we all know she is capable of doing. Kendall had another good match. She made great choices in her distribution, served really tough and made defensive plays whether at the net or in he back row when we really needed them. And Amanda was aggressive in a way we have been pushing her to be all season. She did a great job controlling the first contact and extending rallies with her digs. And Katelyn really stepped up her back-row and defensive effort. Her hitting percentage wasn't great from what you see on the stat sheet but she came up with some huge kills in some very critical times."
The Wildcats rallied from late deficits in each of their three set victories, beginning with coming back from down 24-23 in the first set to pull out the 26-24 win. Facing set point, Mueller delivered the tying point on a kill and and then put ACU up 25-24 with another kill. She finished the match with a block to give her the final three points of the set. The Wildcats had a 17-12 lead in the set before HBU mounted a comeback of its own. But the Wildcats got three big points from their freshman outside hitter to pull out the victory.
ACU lost a 15-14 lead midway through the second and once again faced a set point at 24-23 before an attack error by Jessica Wooten knotted the set at 24-24. HBU once again got to set point on a block by Blair Gillard. But Mueller responded with a kill to make it 25-25 and McNeil had a kill to put the Wildcats on top 26-25. Mueller finished off the set with a kill to give her team a 2-0 lead.
The third set was tied 19-19 before the Huskies ripped off the final six points of the set to take a 25-19 win and cut ACU's lead to 2-1. The Huskies hit .256 in the set, while the Wildcats hit a match low .106.
HBU seemed to be pushing the match to a fifth set by taking a 20-17 lead late into the fourth set. But the Wildcats called a timeout and rallied with three straight points to make it a 20-20 set and force an HBU timeout. Bailey Banks had an attack error, followed by a kill from Smith and an attack error by Blair Gillard to tie the set at 20-20.
ACU went on top 23-21 after three straight attack errors by HBU before the Huskies rallied with two straight points to knot the set once again at 23-23. But Mueller put the Wildcats ahead 24-23 with a kill, and then Madison O'Brien was whistled for a ball-handling error to give the Wildcats the match.
"So much of Saturday was about keeping our composure," Mooney said. "I believe we did an excellent job of doing just that. We focused on one play at a time and that was all that mattered. We committed to being focused on being the best we could be for that one point until we made it to 25. We are seizing every single opportunity. We are trusting our skills, ourselves and our team. In the end, if we take care of things on our side of the net we will be happy with our effort and outcome."
