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ABILENE – Early Wednesday Abilene Christian University received word from the NCAA that its transition into Division I athletics reached a successful conclusion. The Wildcats are in. Hurrah!
As fully vested members of the Southland Conference the Wildcats now can begin competing for league tournament titles and national championships – something they couldn't do the previous four seasons.
No more will ACU have an asterisk next to its name on conference standings page or be passed over for the postseason, and no longer will the names of Wildcat student-athletes be omitted on the NCAA leaderboards.
They're legit.
Today's news was a stimulus to the university and its teams, and evened the playing field within the Southland Conference. ACU always had the chance to compete for regular-season titles during its probation period – but by being able to compete for the top prizes in collegiate athletics, the Wildcats have ascended into that next tier of competitiveness.
Football is eligible for the FCS Championship. And for baseball and softball, the College World Series marks their final destination.
Golf, cross country and track and field all will head to regionals, and perhaps nationals.
March Madness is a reality for men's and women's basketball. And 64-team brackets wil await several other teams, including volleyball, which begins year one of the
Angela Mooney era Friday at Wyoming for the
Rumble in the Rockies – a multi-team tournament that also features Portland and South Dakota.
Exciting times certainly lay ahead for both the athletic program and this team, which appears strong and confident heading into the weekend. Yes, the Wildcats have a big roster in terms of height and depth, but more than that they possess an incredibly gifted returning core of players at each position.
Sophomore libero
Amanda Chapa is entrusted to dig out the attacks and junior
Kendall Bosse will set up the strike, arming an arsenal of attackers that includes classmate
Jacey Smith, senior
Corinne Grandcolas, sophomore
Marybeth Sandercox, and freshman
Katelyn Mueller.
There's also tremendous depth at middle blocker with veterans junior
Lauren Walker and sophomore
Courtney Miller leading the way. Walker was one of the best blockers in the Southland Conference last fall, averaging 1.08 blocks per set, while Miller averaged 5.00 blocks per set through the final six matches of 2016.
With all this experience on the court, the Wildcats are hoping to reverse their fortunes in non-conference play (seven victories since 2013) and prove the naysayers wrong in the Southland Conference. Interestingly, the Wildcats were picked sixth in the league's preseason poll despite placing third a year ago with a solid 11-5 record – one game out of second place. Close to half of their league wins were sweeps while three others were won in the fifth set.
This is a good team coming back, and one can't help but think the Wildcats will be markedly better under the leadership of Mooney – a former assistant at Ole Miss and four-year letter winner at Texas Tech – and assistant coach
Ku'ulei Kabalis-Bianconi, a decorated libero and NCAA participant at Kansas State. This year also marks the first time the Wildcats have utilized a third coach, and that's Grand Canyon graduate
Seth Alstrom who will oversee the beach program in addition to assisting Mooney during the indoor season.
That having been said, all three of this weekend's opponents are more than capable of challenging the Wildcats. South Dakota beat ACU in four sets last season in Omaha and is the defending Summit League champion. Portland returns four starters from a 17-win team, while Wyoming features a familiar face on its bench – Breann Nesselhuf, who was the Wildcats' assistant coach during the 2016 season.
Several Wildcats have credited Nesselhuf for last year's in-conference success, and now she's part of a team that's coming off an 18-win season with 10 returning letter winners.
"She was great for our team last season and we're all excited to see her," said Smith, who made the Southland's Preseason All-Conference team earlier this month. "For me in terms of leadership, she was the rock for our program and really helped us achieve team unity, and for our setters – Kendall and Mack (Kesler) – they learned so much from her. She was an awesome coach for them."
ACU faces the Cowgirls in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at 12 p.m. (MT) / 1 p.m. (CT). First the Wildcats battle Portland Friday at 4 p.m. (MT) / 5 p.m. (CT), and conclude their stay in Laramie with a 5 p.m. (MT) / 6 p.m. (CT) contest vs. South Dakota.
