ABILENE – A tough start offensively for Abilene Christian volleyball proved costly in a 3-1 loss to Stephen F. Austin Thursday night at Moody Coliseum. The Wildcats dropped the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-18, but won set three, 25-20, and nearly pushed the match to a fifth set before bowing out, 27-25.
"We had a hard time getting our offense going in the first set," said ACU head coach
Angela Mooney. "Our serve and pass was weak. We passed for low numbers and did not serve aggressively enough. I am happy, however, with our fight and ability to come back, but we have to pay attention to the details when the match gets tight. We'll have to take tonight's decision as a lesson to be more prepared from the first point onward."
ACU surrendered a 14-11 lead in set one and never led in the second as SFA quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the intermission. But the Wildcats got things rolling right off the bat once the break was complete.
An early 5-0 run that included two kills from junior middle blocker
Lauren Walker (10K, .292, 6 block assists) and an ace from junior outside hitter
Jacey Smith (11K, 3 aces, 14 digs) pushed the Wildcats out to a 9-2 lead. Then with Walker on the service line, ACU collected back-to-back kills from freshman middle blocker
Lorin McNeil (10K, .348, 5 blocks) and senior
Corinne Grandcolas (6K).
McNeil also was part of a block with sophomore outside hitter
Marybeth Sandercox (5K, 7 blocks) that gave ACU its largest lead of the evening at 15-4.
Refusing to go away quietly, SFA responded with an 11-4 run that pulled them to within four points of a tie score (19-15), and a few possessions later, setter Ann Hollas (32 assists) dropped in a pair of aces that made it a three-point game at 23-20. Fortunately for ACU, Haley Coleman (7K, .238) hit her next shot too far in bringing the Wildcats to set point, and on her following attempt she was blocked by Walker and Sandercox.
The Wildcats and Ladyjacks combined for 21.0 blocks, with 11 registered by the home team.
ACU in the fourth set simply could not string enough points together to force a final game. After trailing by as many as five points (14-19), the Wildcats eventually made it a one-point game following an ace from Walker (19-20). They later tied the score at 23-23 after receiving consecutive kills from McNeil and Smith.
SFA burned a timeout with the score deadlocked, and the stoppage worked to their advantage as the next service from sophomore libero
Amanda Chapa (15 digs) fell square into the netting. ACU now had to play from behind with SFA at match point, and despite getting game-tying points from Smith and Walker, the Ladyjacks ultimately prevailed with their final two points coming on a kill from Danae Daron (9K, .368) and attack error by Walker.
SFA hit .170 for the match after being held in check offensively in sets three (.028) and four (.136). The Ladyjacks hit a combined .291 between sets one and two. ACU, by comparison, hit .113 with Walker (14), Smith (14) and McNeil (13) all reaching a double-digit scoring total.
The victory kept SFA (24-6) tied atop the Southland Conference standings with Central Arkansas at 12-2, while ACU (10-15) slipped to 6-7 – one game ahead of Incarnate Word (5-8) for the eighth and final spot in the league's postseason tournament.
Both the Wildcats and Cardinals have three matches remaining on their schedule, including a head-to-head battle a week from tonight in San Antonio. ACU captured their first meeting this season, 3-1, and may need to win again depending on Saturday's results when the Wildcats play host to Lamar (2-11) and the Cardinals visit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (8-5).
The Wildcats' match vs. Lamar starts at 1 p.m. and is their final home contest of the 2017 season. Teammates and coaches will honor Grandcolas – their lone senior – during a pregame recognition ceremony.
